The Slow Path
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: I've adopted this story from CullenandSwan1993 - she wrote chapter 1, and asked me to continue it :D The Doctor and Rose land on a planet and the TARDIS gets taken from them, and they have to adjust to a sort of normal life until they can get her back x
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello :D Right, just got to explain, I've adopted this story from ****CullenandSwan1993 (who is brilliant, btw :D) and so the first chapter was written by her. She asked me to continue it and I loved her chapter so much that I kept it exactly as she wrote it when I uploaded it onto my account. And so chapter 2 onwards is where I begin. I'd just like to say a BIG thankyou to her for trusting me with it, I hope I do ok...**

**So there you are. Enjoy, enjoy!**

**Laura x**

**The Slow Path**

"Hmm. That's… strange..."

Rose popped her head up over the magazine she was reading and eyed the Doctor curiously. Despite the fact that she was engrossed in a particularly interesting article, the person in her company always dominated her attention. The advice column could wait.

"What is?" she asked.

He was currently wearing his usual thick rimmed glasses, squinting at the TARDIS console screen in apparent confusion. His hair was looking incredibly wild today, flicking up in several random directions, and Rose tried her hardest not to stare. She couldn't stop herself from imagining running her fingers through it, seeing how he reacted…

He pouted. "She's acting oddly."

Rose gulped and began chewing on her lip; had he noticed her behaviour? She'd probably made a real spectacle of herself… she'd never quite mastered the art of subtlety…

"It's almost as though she's unwell…"

He began delicately stroking the TARDIS and Rose very nearly sighed aloud with relief. Despite this, the Doctor's fondling of his ship was a little worrying… he was gazing at it almost lovingly.

She suddenly felt very jealous.

"What makes you think that?" she managed through gritted teeth. She knew that she was being ridiculous; why on earth was she getting jealous over a time travelling machine?

Because she loved the Doctor. That was why.

She couldn't deny it any longer. When he'd first regenerated she was terrified; she thought the man she'd grown to trust and adore had died. She believed her time travelling days were over. But, when he'd clasped her hand after defeating the Sycorax and looked up at the stars with her, she knew he was still there.

Just with a different, more attractive face.

"Can't you hear her?" he replied in a low, cooing voice, taking her out of her thoughts. "She sounds unwell."

Rose stifled an eye roll. "I_ clearly_ don't know the TARDIS as well as you. Even though I looked into its heart…" she trailed off briefly. "But apart from that, we're not really that close."

The Doctor grinned. "I've had over nine hundred years practice. We're like an old married couple."

There it was again; the jealousy. It situated itself in her stomach and made her feel slightly sick.

"Maybe I should leave you two alone," Rose grumbled under her breath, slumping back into her chair. Despite this, the Doctor still heard her and frowned in her direction.

"Now, now, Rose, don't get all green eyed."

She felt her cheeks blushing but concealed herself behind the pages. There was another interesting article, this time on make-up tips, and she started focusing on that, wanting to calm herself down.

"It's almost as though… as though she knows something."

Rose sighed and looked at him again. In the process, she slammed her magazine down on her knees with a little too much force. "What?"

"It's like the TARDIS knows that something is about to happen," he continued, mostly speaking aloud to himself. He circled the controls, checking random levers and buttons. "She's a very clever machine, y'see."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "You've told me _that_ plenty of times."

The Doctor took off his glasses and scratched his head for a moment. "I wonder…"

"Doctor," Rose said suddenly, a little sternly, "will you please let this go? Just leave the stupid thing alone! It's not like anything bad is going to hap-"

The TARDIS console suddenly came to life and the familiar guttural sound flooded the room. Rose lurched out of her seat and onto the floor from the force, causing the magazine to flap around noisily. The Doctor momentarily lost his balance but managed to look smooth as he clung onto the column, staring on in disbelief.

"You'd better hold on tight!" he yelled, just as several violent sparks erupted from his ship. "There's nothing I can do! We're being pulled somewhere!"

Rose took his advice and gripped onto the main console, panting for breath from the effort. She knew the Doctor was useless at steering, but this was a whole new extreme. She sometimes thought he did it to tease her.

Not that she would complain really…

"We're landing!" he announced a few seconds later. "Hold on!"

They suddenly jolted forwards and the Doctor rolled onto the floor, completely losing his footing. He looked far from elegant and Rose had to hold in a snort.

It became completely silent around them, then, apart from their frantic breathing. They both stayed still for a few moments and the Doctor suddenly popped his head around the console to meet Rose. He was grinning, once again showing his straight white teeth. The grin was contagious and Rose soon caught it, unable to resist the enthusiasm.

"I wonder what's out there…" he said slowly, helping Rose to her feet. "You alright?"

She nodded, brushing herself down. "You?"

"Yeah," he sniffed. "That was nothing for me."

"You looked pretty disorientated, though," Rose pointed out.

"But I looked pretty disorientated with _style_."

She laughed and he hurried off, reaching for his usual long brown coat. He then rejoined her, taking her hand. They both felt the familiar tingle travel up their arms and Rose's heart began hammering in anticipation. The Doctor tried to ignore his own body's obvious reaction and turned towards the woman who had caused it.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she replied.

The Doctor smirked happily, heading for the doors. In all honesty, he was really grateful for this distraction; today, Rose had decided to wear a particularly attractive outfit and he was having an annoyingly difficult time controlling his thoughts.

He couldn't help noticing the way her jeans clung to her legs, the way her blue top showed off her lovely curves…

"Right," he said, clearing his throat. He reached for the doors, taking a deep breath. "Here we go!"

They both stepped outside in anticipation and both sucked in some fresh air.

The landscape around them was spectacular; it seemed as though they were in a future version of New York, because everywhere they turned there were sky scrapers and brilliant flashing lights; they were small compared to everything around them, like tiny ants.

In the sky above there were strange ships of every size and, as they flew by, they left a trail of smoke and a little whirling sound that lingered in the air. It was strangely similar to New Earth, Rose briefly noted, but she realised that wasn't the case because there wasn't any apple grass around. Just concrete slabs that many humans busily rushed around on.

But this wasn't what shocked them the most.

The fact that they were surrounded by several men dressed in police uniforms brandishing strange looking guns in their direction was a_ little _more disturbing. Quite a few people were staring in interest as well, making the experience even more humiliating.

The Doctor immediately lifted up his arms and Rose copied him, trying to mentally calculate how quickly they could both dive back into the TARDIS without getting hurt. While she did this, the Doctor subtly placed himself in front of her, ready to protect her at all costs.

"Um…" he began. "Sorry to be rude, that's just the type of man I am, y'see, but what exactly are you doing?"

The man closest to them frowned, deep lines appearing on his tanned face. "You must be pretty stupid."

The Doctor gasped. "I'm offended." He glanced at Rose. "I am actually offended! I thought I was quite an intelligent being! Well, I know I am. But calling me that would be like calling Rose bl- "

"Shut up," he snapped. "You are aware that you have both just broken the law, aren't you?"

Rose's mouth fell open. "You what?"

The man glared at her. "It is_ illegal_ to drive an unregistered vehicle on the planet of Kalo."

The Doctor frowned and looked upwards. When he squinted, he could see registration plates of some kind on each machine that was flying around.

Uh oh.

"Ah," he said slowly. "I think ours must have dropped off… it is quite windy here after all…" He quickly skimmed the area around him with his eyes.

The man's expression didn't falter; he was like an angry sculpted statue. "It is an offence to drive a vehicle without a registration plate." He produced a strange looking gadget from his pocket and began scanning the TARDIS. The Doctor started to protest but the look on the man's face quickly quietened him.

"It's registering as foreign," he concluded. "You two are in serious trouble."

Rose couldn't help wanting to sigh at the Doctor; this was_ another_ fine mess he'd gotten her into.

But, in all honesty, she wouldn't have missed it for the world.

"We're going to have to confiscate this vehicle and ask for a fine to pay for your offence."

Two other men pushed past the Doctor and Rose and began placing some strange yellow clamps on the TARDIS. The Doctor tried his hardest to protest and complain but the men just ignored him. He wasn't exactly the strongest alien in the Universe and, whenever he tried to push past them, nothing at all happened.

"We had no idea about your rules!" Rose tried. "Please just… just let us have the TARDIS! We don't live here anyway! We're visiting! It was a mistake!"

"You two are beginning to get on my nerves," the man hissed, making Rose shiver. He reminded her of her old school headmaster.

"What are we gonna do, then?" Rose asked. "How do we get away from here without the TARDIS?"

The Doctor's face was grim. He didn't reply and, suddenly, in an eruption of bright light, the TARDIS disappeared.

"You can't do this!" he erupted. "This is not fair!"

The man handed the Doctor a piece of paper with his fine written on. He glanced down at it and his eyes bulged.

"What?" he exploded. "This is ridiculous! I- "

"Goodbye, sir."

All of the men surrounding the pair suddenly disappeared, leaving a cold breeze behind them. Rose's hair whipped around her face and they both remained silent for a while, too shocked to form any words.

"Well, now we're really in the sh-"

"Rose," the Doctor interrupted. "I really am so sorry. I… I told you I'd always take you back home. I said I'd always keep you safe." He looked down at the floor. "I guess I can't keep my promises."

"We'll find a way back," Rose said optimistically. "Won't we, Doctor?"

He didn't reply; just stared at her.

"What do we do in the mean time, anyway?" she asked. "How much was the fine?"

"I won't say," he murmured quietly. "It's enough to make your eyes water."

"Good thing we've got the psychic paper, then," Rose smiled.

"Yeah…" he muttered distractedly. "But… but we're gonna have to… _live _here. Well, until we get the TARDIS back."

"Can't we just find it?"

"I doubt we'd be able to get it back easily," he sighed. "Those men are tough. And they have guns."

Rose's eyes momentarily widened. "Well… if we didn't…" She paused. "Stuck here with you… that's not so bad."

They met each other's gaze and smiled at each other. "Yeah. Vice versa. But… but we'd have to be all…" His face screwed up. "Domestic." He said the word like it was something disgusting.

"It could be worse," Rose frowned.

He frowned at her sceptically. "Could it?"

"Yeah. We could… we could have faced a bunch of Daleks or something."

He considered this. "Good point. But still… a house… with windows and… and doors. Ugh," he shuddered.

"Calm down," Rose said, reaching for his hand. The small gesture brought him some comfort and he sighed heavily. "We'll be OK."

He looked at her for a long time. "Yeah. I guess we will be."

"So… what's the plan?"

"I guess we should go into the city and find out some stuff about the police. We need to know what they do with foreign vehicles. Foreign - I ask you! That's an_ insult_ to the TARDIS. Bless her." His eyes widened. "I told you she knew that something was wrong! She's such a clever thing."

"Where are we, anyway? And when?"

"Kalo, that man said," he replied. "We're in the future and it's a planet very similar to Earth, as you've probably guessed. Humans have inhabited it, but that's just about all I know. Oh, and the police are idiots."

She snickered before turning serious again. "Why were we pulled here, anyway?"

He exhaled. "No idea. Just happens sometimes."

"Right. _That_ explains a lot." He grinned at her. "But what do we do after we've been to the city?"

The Doctor stared ahead, his grin fading. "I guess we'd… well, we'd have to find some place to stay. Temporarily, of course."

She didn't reply.

The Doctor tried to look enthusiastic. "This should be interesting."

"Yeah," Rose muttered. "That's one word for it."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Slow Path – Chapter 2**

"Well, that was successful," muttered Rose, only _slightly_ irritated to a point beyond belief. Not.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry..." the Doctor apologised.

"So. Looks like we're a bit stuck," she said, looping her arm through his tiredly.

"Right. I suppose...oh dear...I suppose we are going to have to find a...a..." he replied, shuddering.

They'd been into the city, attempted to find the TARDIS, failed at that; attempted to reason with the police, failed at that; attempted to _fight_ the police, failed even more at that. And now they had been issued a 'warning.' Apparently, if they wanted any sort of chance of not going to prison, let alone leaving this planet with their 'unregistered vehicle,' they definitely had to pay their fine (which had now been increased, thanks to the Doctor's inability to be polite to rather hostile humans.)

Which meant they had to find a place to stay, immediately.

"A flat, Doctor," she finished for him. "Look, don't worry, we'll be fine."

He stopped walking and turned her to face him, lightly holding her head in his hands. "You know what? Of course we will. I'm sorry. I'll try to stop being so pessimistic. This'll be an adventure!" he said, suddenly enthusiastic, pulling her into a hug. Rose immediately relaxed into the hug, relishing in the feel of his arms around her waist. Every time he hugged her she felt so...close to him. So comforted. So content.

Oh dear. She thought perhaps that she should really stop getting so worked up over _hugs._ They didn't mean anything. Not to him. He handed out hugs to other people like jelly babies.

Sort of.

But not in the same way he hugged her.

"Come on," he murmured into her ear, leaning down, and as his cheek brushed hers he couldn't help but feel a slight jolt of something go through him. He was still getting used to that; the way Rose made him feel. Because honestly? He'd never felt like this before. It was all very undignified, and _extremely _unnerving.

He suddenly thought that maybe he should stop being so overly close to her, otherwise she was going to work out just how much he enjoyed it. Which couldn't happen. It was all very well him feeling these...feelings, but Rose couldn't know. No one could.

They came out of their hug and linked hands, (he wasn't going to stop holding her hand. He'd just have to stop accidently-on-purpose brushing his arm/leg/cheek against hers first chance he got) and carried on walking towards a massive building with a sign proclaiming 'Homing Squad.' He assumed this was the Kalo equivalent of an estate agency.

Inside the building, there were rows of open office areas with employees sitting at their desks fiddling with bits of stationary, looking very bored. One female worker, pounding a stapler against the side of her desk irritably, was situated near the entrance, and she looked up as the Doctor and Rose stepped in. A delighted smile spread over her face. Jumping up to greet them – or rather, to gain their custom before one of her colleagues could – she held out her hand.

"Hello there!" she cried cheerfully, "My name's Rita! Would you like some help finding a new home?"

The Doctor tugged at his ear, a little nervous for some reason. Nevertheless, he answered Rita's question. "Yes please. We aren't exactly familiar with the area, and we're just looking for a flat to rent. Short-term."

"Ah yes, sit, sit," she said, gesturing to the chairs in front of her desk. Glancing at their joined hands, Rita nodded knowingly. "So, this is just a small flat, yes? To rent? Before the big plans of a large house, am I right?"

The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other quizzically. "No..." Rose began.

"Just the one bedroom, yes?" Rita said, "For now, anyway." She winked at them, and Rose looked at the floor, biting her lip to keep from laughing. That's when she noticed her hand was still tightly in the Doctor's. He seemed to notice this at the same time, because they both abruptly pulled their hands apart.

When the Doctor didn't say anything, Rose felt she had to. "Um, actually, we're not...we're not married," she told Rita, laughing nervously.

Realisation seemed to dawn on the woman's face. "Ohhh. I see," she smiled knowingly. "You're not married yet. Well, it's alright, I won't tell anyone. It's not that much of a bigger deal anymore; unmarried youngsters sharing a home. In fact, I myself live with a young man – Eerov, his name is. Of course, we can't afford to get married yet, the prices of weddings have _soared _this year, haven't they? But well, we couldn't wait to, _you know_, so we decided 'to hell with it,' and here we are..." she rambled, while Rose and the Doctor looked at her, mouths hanging open a little.

_Trust us to pick the estate agent who can't stop talking,_ Rose thought.

"Erm, sorry, don't mean to be rude – I'm like that, you see," he started for the second time that morning, " - But please can we just find somewhere? Quickly? We don't have much time. Rose's mum is after us; doesn't like the idea of me eloping with her daughter – can't see why; I'm the perfect gent, I am. But there you go. She even _slapped _me once, you know. So anyway, we need a flat. Pronto," he told her, smiling sweetly.

Rose just rolled her eyes.

_Trust him to enjoy making up some lies that they'd now have to follow for the whole time they were here,_ she thought.

She told him exactly that when they came out of the building.

"They weren't exactly _lies_...weellll, they weren't _that _far from the truth, if you think about it. Jackie did slap me after she was unimpressed about me taking you away," he rationalised, jingling the keys to their new flat in his pocket as they walked.

"Yeah, but then Rita committed _fraud _for you, by insisting that we say that we're 'Mr and Mrs Smith' on the paperwork so that it would be hard for Mum to trace us!" she exclaimed, instinctively intertwining her hand with his despite her slight annoyance with the man.

He smiled sheepishly. "All part of the _adventure_ Rosie!"

"Um, _'Rosie?'_" she asked dubiously.

He grinned down at her. "Would you rather I said 'Mrs Smith?'"

For some reason unknown to her, Rose blushed, and kept quiet the rest of the way, content to just listen to him rather than chance embarrassing herself. The Doctor simply held her hand tighter, chattering on about everything and nothing.

Eventually, they arrived at the block of flats, and the Doctor swung open the glass door animatedly, nearly knocking over an old woman.

"Oh dear! So sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going...Rosie here was distracting me," he apologised to the woman, while Rose sent a death glare his way.

"That's quite alright, love. I know what these young girls are like with their men these days. Quite disgraceful, some of them, eh?" she said, then cackled hysterically, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Oh yes, especially this one," the Doctor replied, grinning in amusement, and it seemed it was contagious, as Rose began to laugh too.

Calming herself down, the old woman introduced herself. "I'm Leila, by the way, Leila Mackie."

"Nice to meet you, Leila. I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor," Rose told her. "We're just moving into flat 405."

"Oh, how lovely! Although, I notice no rings. You're not married then?" Leila said, trying to look stern when actually she was quite amused by this new way of people living together without being married.

To avoid having to change their 'cover story,' Rose falsely corrected her. "No, we are. We just..." she trailed off.

"...lost the rings. In an accident. Not very pleasant, don't like to talk about it," picked up the Doctor.

"Oh, sorry dears, didn't mean to...anyway, I best be off! I've got shopping to do, you see, only I was distracted by overhearing those two women over there talking about how the police have been wandering around, they don't usually do that unless there's been a crime - well, obviously - but there's hardly any crime around here, see, are there? No. Not since the new Dictatorship; you know, a lot stricter laws and such now," she told them, and then, in a hushed tone, "Apparently some unregistered vehicle's been obtained, and they are keeping an eye out for the couple in case they do anything else wro - "she paused when she noticed Rose biting her lip and the Doctor looking at her with a smile tugging the corners of his mouth. " –hang on. Are you two...? You're new here...Oh god, it's you isn't it?" Mrs Mackie gasped.

Rose nodded, trusting this woman completely. "Please don't, you know, _alert_ them. I've got to try and keep this one..." she pointed to the Doctor, "...under control until we get the TAR – our vehicle - back," she corrected herself.

Mrs Mackie nodded. "Well, be careful, love. And don't get into anymore trouble," she said, turning to walk away. Then she turned to face them again. "What does your vehicle look like? I'm a bit...nosy, sorry."

"That's alright. Um...it's sort of...well, it's blue and it's a box, and it's got 'Police Public Call Box' written on it..." described Rose. The Doctor watched her admiringly. He had no clue what she was saying; he was just admiring the way her hair looked all windswept and golden now that the light was reflecting off of the glass doors onto it and..._oh dear, _he thought. He really needed to stop this strange problem where he got all distracted, thinking about Rose Tyler too much. He cleared his throat meaningfully.

"Right, so Leila, if you could keep an eye out for it, that'd be great. Rose and I are going to go and get acquainted with our new home," he said, pulling Rose away. Mrs Mackie smiled and waved her goodbyes, before exiting the block.

"Bless her," Rose said. The Doctor chuckled, leading Rose over to the lift. "Um, Doctor? Quick question. You said this was the future, right? So why is everyone so newly liberal to the idea of two unmarried people living together? As if it's only recently that it's been accepted?"

"Weeelll, I suppose this society is still quite traditional. Sounds like a strict legal system they have here. This place isn't quite at the 'so many species, so little time' stage, I don't think, despite _humans_ inhabiting it," he answered, winking at her.

They enter the lift and Rose nods in agreement. "So, what do you reckon the flat's gonna be like, then?" she asked him, pressing the button for the fourth floor.

"Dunno, but I hope it's got one of those tea-making things!" he said excitedly.

"What, a _kettle_?" she asked sarcastically, giving him a funny look.

"That's the thing!" he said.

"We have a kettle on the TARDIS, Doctor," she told him, reaching up and patting his head patronisingly. Well, as patronisingly as she could, considering he was a foot taller than her.

"I know that. But this is different. It will be a kettle, in a kitchen, in a flat. Good job we got a furnished one, eh? Don't have to go shopping for stuff. A furnished flat with a kettle included. And a sofa and a washing machine and a...bed..." he trailed off.

"Yeah," Rose said slowly, "About the bed thing. There's only one of them. Are you going to - " The ping of the lift interrupted her, and the Doctor bounded out quickly, avoiding _that _conversation.

"Right, 405," he muttered to himself, looking at each door they pass. "Aha! Here it is!" he cried, stopping so quickly that Rose bumped into him a little. He dug around in his pocket for a second and pulled out a banana. "Oh. Whoops. Ah, here they are," he said, finally pulling out the keys and dangling them in front of Rose's face.

She grinned at him and snatched them out of his hand, shoving it into the lock.

"No, wait!" he exclaimed, just as she was about to turn the handle.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Slow Path - Chapter 3**

"What?" she asked, bemused.

He winked at her. "Shouldn't I carry you over the threshold?" he teased, smiling cheekily.

"In your dreams," she muttered back, and opened the door. At his frown, she elaborated. "I'm a bit heavy," she told him with a reassuring smile.

He smiled back at her. "Oh, I don't think so," murmured, and when she turned away, he took the opportunity to grab her and haul her into his arms.

"Woah! What are you doing?" she shrieked.

"Proving you wrong," he said simply, closing the door behind them with his foot and keeping her held securely in his grasp despite her wriggling to try and get free. "Hmmm, nice place," he commented lightly, surveying the room. "And _you,_ are not heavy at all. I just think you're scared of domestic," he told her teasingly, laughing as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"_Me?" _she exclaimed. "Now that's a bit hypocritical, don't ya think? And by a 'bit,' I mean a _lot. _Anyway, I'm not, I just...there were people watching, you know, and I thought it would have been embarrassing. Which it was."

"People?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

"Yeah. Didn't you notice? I think we were being a bit loud, 'cos loads of our new neighbours came out to take a look."

"Ah." How had he not noticed that? He thought for a few moments. Rose had probably been distracting him again. Yes, that'd be it. All her fault; she shouldn't look so...whatever it was that made him so distracted around her.

Then there was a knock at the door, and he spun around, still holding Rose, and opened it awkwardly. "Hello!" he greeted the man at the door. Rose closed her eyes in embarrassment. Did this man-alien friend of hers ever learn...?

"Hiya, just saw you two come in here. Wondered if you, or..._her_..." he said, looking at Rose appreciatively. Much too appreciatively for the Doctor's liking. "...needed anything?"

"No, no, we're good thanks," the Doctor replied, a bit snappily, Rose thought, but for why she didn't know.

"Um, actually..." she said, opening her eyes, "Please could we borrow some milk and sugar? And maybe a couple of teabags? We haven't had time to shop yet and I'm gasping for a cuppa," she asked politely.

The Doctor glanced between the man and her, who seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes or something, because he was looking at her oddly and she was smiling with a faint blush on her cheeks and he was grinning now and this Will. Not. Do.

Didn't this man get the message? The Doctor was holding Rose in his arms, for Rassilon's sake; why the hell would their new neighbour chat her up with his too good to be true eyes and boy band sort of smile when she's in her supposed husband's arms? Hmmm? _Hmmm?_

The man extended his hand and shook hers in greeting. "I'm Daniel," he said.

Daniel. Ha. What a stupid name, thought the Doctor.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rose and this is the Do - " she paused, realising he'd have to have a name, really. " – Um, Doctor...John Smith."

The Doctor and It – for that is what this _Daniel _fellow shall be known as in the Doctor's mind now - smiled at each other courteously, but not in the least bit sincerely.

"I'll go and get that stuff for you now, yeah babe?" Daniel said.

Babe? _Babe? _What gave him the right to call her _babe?_ He'd just _met _her; not thirty seconds ago!

"Thanks, that would be lovely," replied Rose.

Daniel smiled at her again, locking eyes with her briefly, before turning and proclaiming he'd 'be back in just a mo.' Much to the Doctor's distaste.

He put Rose down. "Why don't you put the kettle on?" he suggested. "I'm just going to go and ask Daniel a bit about the police here; he might know how to help us," the Doctor lied.

"Oh, ok," she replied, a little disappointed that the Doctor had let go of her. Not that she'd ever admit that to him, obviously, but...it had actually been rather nice, him holding her like that.

The Doctor gave her a quick smile, and left, but she'd noticed it hadn't quite reached his eyes. Rose wondered if she'd upset him in some way. He'd been perfectly fine before Daniel had –

Oh.

Hang on.

Was the Doctor...was the Doctor _jealous?_ Because she'd been talking to that man?

_Nah. He couldn't have been. That wasn't very Doctor-ish,_ she rationalised. Shaking off her confusion, she went and put the kettle on.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was thinking along a similar trail of thought. _That...that had been odd. That wasn't very me. Why had I felt so...odd..._

He wasn't jealous. He knew _that. _He'd just...not liked the look of that man's intentions. Just because, you know, he's her friend and he's looking out for her; that's why he's doing this. He tried to justify all this to himself as he knocked on It's door.

"Um, yeah?" was Daniel's response when he opened his door. "I'll just be a sec with those things, mate."

"Yeah, that's fine, I just...wanted to have a bit of a chat. Personally. Without Rose around," said the Doctor.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Let me in?" he asked.

"Right, erm yeah, sure."

The Doctor stepped into Daniel's flat, and as the door closed he abruptly turned to him. "Right. Just so you know. Rose is off-limits," he told It matter-of-factly. He had to get the point across, blunt as it may be. He didn't remotely care that he was potentially making an enemy of his neighbour almost immediately, as long as It knew that Rose wasn't available.

"What?" spluttered the man. "That's what you came here to tell me?"

"Yes."

"Well, I kinda figured that you didn't take much of a shine to me. And now I understand perfectly."

"Good."

"You're jealous."

"What?" No he isn't. He _isn't. _Time Lords don't get _jealous. _What an absurd notion...

"So, are you two married or what?"

"Like I said. Rose is off-limits. To you."

"So, she belongs to you, then?"

"Yes." Might as well cut to the chase, he thought. And it was true. Sort of. Not. Oh well.

"And you don't trust her enough to say no to me if I tried anything, so you thought you'd come in here – into my flat – and tell me to stay away from her?"

The Doctor didn't like It one bit for what he was suggesting. "Of course I trust her. I just thought, if we're going to be neighbours, you should know the full facts straight away, so that you don't waste your time."

"To tell you the truth, I knew those facts already."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's obvious, the way you lifted her up all romantically like that and - "

"Romantically?" the Doctor muttered to himself, wrinkling his brow in confusion.

"- and before that, with the way you almost snogged her right there in front of everyone in the corridor - "

"_What?" _exclaimed the Doctor. It looked like he'd need to be more careful; if strangers like It were picking up on the fact that he'd quite like to kiss her, it wouldn't be long before she did too...

" – and the way she looked like she wanted you to - "

"_What?"_ Rose wanted him to kiss her? Oh dear. How was he going to deal with this now? Wait, he was being silly. Nah. No, she couldn't have. She wouldn't want him to kiss her...would she?

" – and then the way you looked like you could kill me when I started eying her up."

The Doctor snapped his head back up to meet Daniel's somewhat steely gaze. "Yes, well..." he cleared his throat. "Hang on, if you knew...all that...then why did you still..."

"I guess I thought that one day, she'd get bored of you, and - while you're out working or whatever – come and beg me to sweep her off her feet. Which I would sooo do. She's a very pretty lady."

"Yes, she is. A very pretty, _off-limits_, lady, alright?" said the Doctor testily, huffing and puffing a bit.

Daniel laughed. "Ok, ok. If you say so. Now, shall I get all that stuff she wants to use, or...?"

Glad to have cleared that up, the Doctor's demeanour toward Daniel changed. "Oh, yes please," he replied cheerfully.

Daniel shook his head, bemused at the strange man before him and his weird mood swings.

"Right, here you are. I take it you don't want me to come round to yours right now?" he smirked.

"Not really, no," replied the Doctor, and he grins at him. "Thanks for this," he called over his shoulder as he left.

Daniel, meanwhile, felt as though he'd been set a challenge. He reckoned this Rose chick must be worth fighting for, for this Doctor Smith guy to be all...intense.

Once the Doctor returned to the flat, he found Rose in the kitchen, sitting on the counter and swinging her legs back and forth.

She smiled widely at him. "Find anything interesting out?"

"Hmmm? Oh, um...no. Not really. That Daniel's a bit thick, bless him," he told her, and she laughed, jumping off the side to pour the boiled water into two mugs as the Doctor popped in the tea-bags, milk and sugar. She briefly marvelled at how in sync they moved while doing this, then shook her head to rid the thoughts. She was being over-analytical. Again. They were just making tea, for goodness sake.

She then heard him happily mumble '_kettle, _in a _flat,' _and realised how difficult this whole new way of living together was going to be, because if he got this enthusiastic about that element of domesticity, what the hell was going to happen in the _evenings? _Would he want to like...watch t.v and snuggle and share a bed, just for the experience, the adventure, or what...?

She shook herself out of those thoughts. _Suppose I'm just gonna have to wait and see._

"The cupboards are bare, you know. We need to go food shopping," Rose told him over the rim of her mug as she took a sip, before poking him in his side when he groaned. "We _have _to. We can't just magic it up out of thin air, you know." _Ok, so maybe he won't be _completely _enthusiastic about every single aspect of this 'adventure,' if he's still averse to the notion of shopping. That's a good sign. _

_Or not._

He took a long sip of his tea and leant back against the sink, looking at her. "I know. It's just...so boring."

"Tell me about it. And no, before you ask, I'm not doing it on my own. We're in this together. Look, it's about four-ish, right? Which means we haven't eaten since breakfast, which was before we arrived here at like, _six _this morning. So, we have to buy something to cook for dinner. Not to mention _clothes..."_

"Well, I got loads of money out of that ATM we passed, so that should be enough to buy it all with."

"Well, that'll be the last time you can do that," she muttered under her breath.

"_But, _you can't force _me_ to get any new clothes. I'm sticking with my suit, thanks."

She shook her head at him, rolling her eyes. "Wouldn't dream of it," she said honestly. She found the suit very, very sexy, and very _him, _and she wasn't about to go suggesting he changed. "Although, a few spare shirts could be purchased, don't you think?" she smiled, her tongue poking out between her teeth.

"I suppose," he mumbled.

"Come on then! Let's go! Alons-y and all that! It's shopping time!"she exclaimed, tugging his sleeve impatiently.

He groaned again, and plopped their mugs in the sink.

_Great. Shopping. With Rose Tyler. It's going to be a long evening. _

_But you know. With her, so also potentially rather pleasant._

_It balanced out, _he thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Slow Path - Chapter 4**

"Wow..." murmured Rose, completely in awe at the sight in front of her. "God...seeing _that_ is worth being trapped here..."

She laughed at the Doctor's indignant expression. They'd been back from their shopping expedition for about half an hour, and they'd begun to cook their dinner. Well. She had. Then he'd come and interrupted, asking to have a go. _Honestly, he's like a bit kid_, she thought.

"I'm trying my best here, Rose. But this..._thing... _is very complicated."

"It's a cooker, Doctor. How hard can a cooker be to work out?" she asked teasingly. Then her eyes widened. "No! No, no. Don't do that," she instructed when it became apparent that tonight was the night that he decided to accidently set the kitchen on fire.

He sighed. "This is why I. Don't. Do. Domestic."

"Really? I just thought it was 'cause you're a commitment-phobe," muttered Rose under her breath.

"What?"

She looked at him staring at her with a confused expression on his face. "Nothing," she replied hastily, wiping her cheek to get rid of the splodge of sauce he's splashed at her earlier.

The Doctor shrugged. "Ok. You take over. Seriously. I can't stand - "

"- not being able to do something?" she teased.

"Oi! No. I was going to say that I can't stand around here all night burning pasta when I should be searching for information regarding the TARDIS' whereabouts."

"Give it here," Rose sighed, shoving him out of the way. "I was perfectly fine doing this anyway, until you decided to have a go. Right, I'll finish this - you go and see that Mrs Mackie again – she lives at flat 115; ask her whether she's seen anything yet. She is very observant, so you never know."

The Doctor looked at her for a second. Since when was it her telling _him_ what to do? _He _was the one in charge. _He _was the designated driver.

He winced internally as he realised that actually, it was probably best that Rose did take charge of this particular adventure of theirs, considering he had no clue how to live this sort of life. After all, her orders were pretty purposeful, so he had better do exactly that.

Plus, she sounded like she was his wife or something. Which was quite...

_Not going to finish that thought, _he thought to himself then. _Could be...odd...to think like that..._

"Ok..." he paused, unsure of whether his next sentence is a bit rude. He decided to say it anyway. "Will the food be ready when I come back?" he asked hopefully.

She turned to him with an eyebrow raised. "Who do you think I am? Your mother?"

He was taken aback for a moment. "No, you're my Stepford Wife," he told her, in a 'isn't it obvious' tone of voice, tapping her nose affectionately.

She turned back around so that he didn't see her blushing face. Honestly, he was only teasing, she shouldn't get so caught up by his words, should she? No, she should not.

The Doctor frowned behind her, thinking over his words and realising he'd been a bit...presumptuous there. But it was true; at least for now. They were stuck here doing the domestic, and their neighbours assumed they were married. Granted, that was partially because he'd hinted at it. A lot. And they had a double cover story to uphold.

But. Come to think of it, everyone _always_ assumed they're together, and it's never bothered either of them before. They usually just go along with it – it's easier than explaining to strangers that no, actually they're just friends who travel together through space and time in an alien, bigger-on-the-inside blue box spaceship, because whenever they _had _insisted that they weren't '_like that' _they were met with disbelieving looks and rather rude sniggers.

Why was that, exactly? Sure, they held hands. And hugged a lot. But...friends do that. Don't they? Of course they do. Although...he supposed that they do invade each other's personal space quite a bit; they rarely leave each other's side, and they did flirt outrageously with each other should they be in the right situation, especially when other people were around. To, you know, let them know that Rose wasn't available.

No.

Wait.

She didn't _belong _to him. Of course she was available. But...well. The Doctor didn't exactly want her to go swanning off with some other bloke. Like that _Daniel_ fellow. Not that he'd be jealous or anything...no, not at all. He was just...protecting her. Yes, that's right. No telling what these tall, dark handsome strangers that were constantly taking a shine to Rose could be up to.

(He knew that he felt differently about her than he had about anyone else, but she was still just his friend. Realistically. No one could ever know that, to him, they'd always be more than that. No one could know. Especially not her.)

Anyway, the Doctor felt like he'd upset Rose, so he reached out his hand and rested it on her shoulder, gently tugging her around to look at him. "Erm..." he began, completely intent on apologising, but then he noticed that she didn't look angry. In fact, she was smiling widely at him, albeit looking a bit flushed, and the moment he looked into her eyes he bottled his apology, along with everything else he always wanted to say but never did.

_Such _a coward.

"Go on. Off you go! Do your investigating. And dinner will be on the table at seven, so don't be late!" she told him cheerfully, regaining her confidence enough to tease him a little.

He smiled at her warmly. "Wouldn't dream of it." And with that he..._accidently _pressed a kiss to her forehead and bolted out of the door before she had the chance to question him about it.

She stood there, a daft frilly apron around her, wooden spoon in one hand, another hand pressed against her forehead (subsequently getting tomato sauce smudged there) and she was sure that if the Doctor saw her now he would tell her how ridiculous she looked. But he'd just...gone. Kissed her, then...gone. As if nothing had happened. Well, she supposed that to him, nothing did happen; the Doctor rarely saw their shows of affection for each other as anything other than platonic.

Well, that's what she thought.

But...despite all his protestations about the domestic side of life, she also thought that he maybe secretly enjoyed playing this game of husband and wife. Which was strange. Very strange. And perhaps he was getting a little too used to this, if he thought he could just kiss her like that – the epitome of a...of a...doting husband – then walk away. Because, this is just a game. A temporary way of life, before they got the TARDIS back. They were best friends; nothing more. And he...he didn't usually do stuff like that. Well. He had done once or twice, well, maybe several times, but that had been when they were sat on the sofa in the TARDIS library and he'd thought Rose was asleep, consequently calculating that there was no way that she would ever see something of nothing if he took the opportunity to kiss her head lightly.

She was never asleep.

Therefore, she learnt long ago that she always made something out of nothing, and this recent kiss meant nothing too, _therefore_ she should stop pretending it was something and getting herself into a fluster about it.

She shook her head to dispel the images of what else the Doctor might accidently do during their stay here on Kalo, and turned back to the simmering pasta, pausing briefly to open a bottle of wine. She really needed a drink right now.

Outside the door to their rented flat, the Doctor let out a long breath. What had he gone and kissed her for? Now she was probably reading into all sorts of somethings about nothing, and how was he going to make her see that that had been an accident and, and...

It wasn't like it was some big, romantic, passionate snog or anything. It didn't mean anything.

_It didn't mean anything. _

_Yeah. _

_Right._

And how was he going to tell her _that_ if he didn't even believe it himself?

Truth was: he kissed her because he wanted to. End of. The moment they'd landed here, and had to face doing this domestic thing, he knew that it wouldn't be as bad as he made out. Wasn't this all that he'd ever wanted, in a way? A normal chance at living? Obviously, this was only temporary; they were treating it as any other adventure - a holiday, of sorts. But...it was kind of nice. Being a bit normal, for once. Taking the slow path. It was sort of...fun. Only because of Rose, though. Oh, he wouldn't like it if Rose wasn't the one with him. Being stuck here with her, that wasn't so bad. In fact, it was very, very, very brilliant. Of course, he missed the TARDIS terribly, and he was yearning for some sort of excitement and, and...

He knew exactly what kind of excitement he'd really been waiting for; for a long while now. And he couldn't let himself think about _that_, not when they were in such a confined space – the flat really was super-tiny. Not when Rose was wearing an apron and had pasta sauce all over her, where he had flicked it at her earlier. Not when she was looking so lovely and smiling and being so nice and acting her part of being a couple so perfectly. Not when, as soon as they got back to the TARDIS, things would go back to 'normal' and he wouldn't have an excuse to wrap his arm around her waist or oh. _Oh. Rassilon. _Sleep in the same bed as her. He hadn't thought of that. Neither of them had discussed sleeping arrangements for tonight. There was only one bedroom, with one double bed. Of course, he'd probably end up taking the sofa – it wasn't like he needed much sleep anyway, so he'd be able to get up and potter about without waking her if he got bored just lying there.

But...

No. No, he wouldn't use their supposed relationship as an excuse to lie right next to her.

Although, they had done that before...lots of times, actually. The first time was after the werewolf, when they'd been in Rose's room in the Torchwood House, chatting about the whole adventure, full of adrenaline and unable to sleep. Then, when Rose had eventually drifted off, he'd told himself that it was pointless to heave himself off her bed, and settled down right next to here. He'd consequently awoken with his arm draped across her waist and her leg intertwined with his, but he certainly didn't complain. Neither of them really mentioned it, actually. And then, on countless adventures since, they'd been forced to share a single bed; in cells, caves, castles, _wigwams_ – you name it. Neither of them was ever opposed to the idea particularly; they had mostly just gone along with it and not said a word. Neither of them saw it as wrong, or inappropriate, or pushing the boundaries...

Except they did.

But they both thought that if the other had a problem with it, they'd have made their point known, so why waste the opportunity of getting to be near each other?

However, this time was different, because it wasn't just somewhere to take a quick nap, it was a proper flat – their flat – within which they'd have to stay for Rassilon knows how long, and this entire situation might just make him throw caution to the wind and snog her senseless.

Which would be wrong. And completely inappropriate. And those boundaries? Ha, they'd be gone forever.

_Would that really be such a bad thing?_

He nodded his head to himself furiously.

_Yes. Of course it would._

He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let them be _'like __that' _because if he did, then he'd quite possibly ruin their friendship, not to mention damage his hearts irrevocably, in the long-run.

He pulled himself away from their front door, which he had been leaning on while enduring this internal argument, and set off to find Mrs Mackie. With a bit of luck, they would find the TARDIS sooner rather than later, before the Doctor had a chance to lose all rational thought (which of course refers to his ability to recall the 101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler.)


	5. Chapter 5

**The Slow Path - Chapter 5**

Rose sighed. She put the dinner on the table and poured herself another large glass of wine. Doing the domestic wasn't _so _bad, she supposed. But she couldn't wait until this was all over and they got back to the TARDIS. She'd only been doing this housewife thing for like, half a day, and she was already completely bored of it. She wanted adventure, excitement, maybe a good mystery to solve. Not sitting in this tiny flat cooking dinner. It was funny; she hadn't realised just how alike she was to the Doctor in that way. In fact, she always thought he'd be the first one to moan about this situation, but _actually,_ the minute he walked through the door when they found this place he'd been all 'ooh what a lovely flat!' and 'ooh, look at this Rose – a real washing machine!' Sure, he'd moaned about the oven earlier, but really? Rose thought that he was enjoying this. He'd never say so, of course. Still, it was an adventure of sorts, and she was experiencing it with him. Which made things bearable. Well. Better than bearable. He had kissed her, after all, which was pretty brilliant. He'd never have done that explicitly had they been on the TARDIS.

Perhaps they were making progress...

No. No, she couldn't let herself think that way. They were just friends, and the Doctor would never do anything to suggest something more could happen. She'd just have to plaster on a grin and pretend that really, she was fine with this whole 'pretending to be Mrs Smith' thing. Absolutely fine. No use expecting more.

He burst through the door. "Hello!" he cried cheerfully. "Mmm, something smells good." He sat down opposite her at their little dining table and grins.

Rose let out a long breath and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Wow. You're actually right on time," she beamed happily.

"Well, I couldn't have you waiting around for me, could I? That'd be impolite, especially as you've spent so much time cooking dinner," he replied, shoving a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

She smiled. "Is it alright?" she asked. She'd never been very good at cooking; her speciality was burnt toast. They usually went out and ate at restaurants or takeaway cafes when travelling in the TARDIS. Cooking for the Doctor would be far too domestic for both their tastes, especially as she was generally quite bad.

"It is, actually," he answered, a hint of surprise evident in his tone. "You did good."

"Thank god for that," she said, tentatively eating a few mouthfuls. "I know pasta's quite easy, but I really thought I'd mess it up, you know?" _Especially after he nearly did, _she thought.

"Well, you didn't. I'm exceptionally proud of you," he replied, smiling at her warmly.

Despite her best efforts not to, Rose blushed. She cleared her throat. "Wine?" she asked, lifting the bottle up.

He took it from her and looked at it. It was half empty. He then glanced at her again, taking in her flushed face and hazy eyes. "Rose, how much have you had?"

"Not much." He raised an eyebrow. "Ok fine. But I was bored, ok? Waiting for the dinner to cook, and not having you around to amuse me. Anyway, all the best chefs do it!"

"Do what?"

"Drink wine whilst they're cooking, obviously."

"Oh. Well, that's alright then," he said, smiling mischievously. "As long as you don't get _too _drunk."

"I'll have you know that I can hold my drink quite well, thankyou very much. Now come on; you drink some too, or I'll only finish it by myself."

He grinned and poured some out into his own glass, and topped hers up as well.

They ate in companionable silence for a while, just looking at each other, their lips tugging into mirrored smiles as the Doctor watched Rose flush under his heavy gaze. She suddenly felt very dizzy, biting her lip to keep from blurting out something very, very embarrassing (like: 'You look really lovely when you're eating, you know...') She blamed it on all the wine she'd drunk. But really it was the way he was looking at her; his eyes imploring hers. For some very strange reason - despite how comfortable she was around him - him looking at her like that made her feel as though she was on a first date or something.

And it was even stranger because he wasn't saying a word. Not a word. However often they sat with just each other for company, they'd never been silent for this long.

Although the atmosphere was familiar, there was also an underlying tension which often arose in these quieter moments. They usually had something to distract them, and so the moments came and went and both of them would deny they ever existed. This time this moment was probably caused by a mixture of wine and thinking about him kissing her forehead earlier on her part, and him wondering whether he could find some excuse to kiss her again on his.

Properly.

And there was nothing to distract them this time.

She took a huge sip of her wine and cleared her throat. "So, did you find anything out? About the TARDIS?" she asked, not really wanting to break the mood but feeling she should.

He chewed and swallowed some more of his food before answering, still watching her contemplatively. "Nah. Apparently, the Idiot Police here are very secretive. They don't like to reveal where they keep all the confiscated stuff, funnily enough."

"Great," muttered Rose sarcastically. "_Sooooo_, how long do you reckon we'll have to stay here?"

Basically, how long was she going to have to pretend that them being here, with him being so...him, and looking at her so...like he does, wasn't affecting her in the slightest.

He took a sip of his wine, considering her question. "Weeelll, I'm not really sure. But we'll just have to try and find this secret base place all the while pretending to be normal."

"_But, _what about that fine? We're going to have to get _jobs_ and every – wait. Why are you looking at me like that? Oh no. No, you're not just going to make _me _get a job, and support you, are you? 'Cos that's well unfair. You're the one who got us into this mess. You're the man...should be the one providing for _me,"_ she informed him, trying not to slur her words. She'd said she could hold her drink, and she wasn't about to let him tease her for the fact that she really, really couldn't when she was around him and his intense gaze.

"What, just 'cos you're a woman?" he said, raising his eyebrow. "What happened to women's equality, eh? All that work Emmeline Pankhurst – cheeky woman, by the way, she stole my spanner – and co did for you, and you're sitting here saying that I'm the man, so I should go out and work?"

"Firstly, in case you hadn't _no_ticed, we're not on Earth..." Rose said in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, but humans live here. Same rules apply," he justified.

"...Secondly, you're the one who _blew up _my last job and took me away from normal life. Therefore, it's your um...It's your _duty_ to look after me," she told him, with a rather comical yet decisive nod of the head.

He grinned at her. "That doesn't make sense. But...I was thinking, I've got the sonic screwdriver, so..."

"We can't keep taking money that isn't _ours_, though. What if someone notices you son...sonic... sonic-ing-ing it out of the whatsitcalled...? Then they'll add _stealing_ to our list of crimes. You could get us into _more _trouble. We could be _arrested," _she said, emphasising certain words in the way that one does when one has had nearly a whole bottle of wine. Or two.

He chuckled, amused by her evident tipsy state. "Alright then, miss 'abide by the rules.' Job centre for you in the morning," he replied, smiling innocently.

She sighed over-dramatically, and they continued to eat, only the sound of Rose hiccupping in between mouthfuls breaking the silence. It was really quite amusing, and the Doctor was having a good job trying not to laugh at her.

"Did you drink a bottle _before _you started on that one?" he asked her, and she scowled at him.

"Maybe."

He laughed. "Thought so. Gosh, is this what you're like when you're living a normal life? An alcoholic?"

"No! I just...oh, shut up."

"That's rude."

"Hmph," she replied.

"You ought to be careful. I know what you humans are like when you've had a drink. Or twelve. You might end up saying or doing something you regret..." he smirked.

She looked up at him quickly, for some reason choking on her food. And the seriousness in her gaze startled him.

...

**A/N: hope you're enjoying this. Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Slow Path - Chapter 6**

He watched her, waiting for whatever it was she looked like she was about to say.

She watched him, and wondered if he could read her mind.

Then she realised he couldn't be reading her mind, otherwise he'd have, in a worst case scenario, chucked her out of the flat for daring to think such a thing. Or, at the very least, blushed in embarrassment.

Several heated moments passed between them, and the Doctor wondered if perhaps she was going to lean over and kiss him, or something equally appealing.

Instead, she broke his intense gaze and simply sighed again, downing the rest of the contents of her wine glass before looking at it expectantly, a frown prominent on her face.

"What? You expect it to be like the magic porridge pot and keep filling up?" the Doctor laughed, trying to cover up his disappointment, and gradually the previous tension dissipated.

She looked at him. She blinked, not hearing what he had just said. _What had he just said?_ "What?"

He tutted at her. "Never mind. You've had _way _too much to drink, you know. Come on, let's clear this up. It was really nice, Rose, thanks," he said, standing and picking up the plates.

He walked over to the adjoined kitchen and turned the taps on.

"_Soooo, _we gonna go explore? Infiltrate? Do some _deducting?" _she asked, stumbling, coming up behind where he stood at the sink, and reaching around him to put the wine glasses down.

The Doctor turned and blinked at her, shuddering when he realised that she was very, very, extremely close. "You really think you're in a fit state to go out _deducting?" _he asked disbelievingly.

"I'm perfectly _fine..." _she replied, with a roll of her eyes.

"You'd fall down the stairs for a start! Then you'd end up being more jeopardy-friendly than you usually are," he said, desperately trying to ignore the fact that her arms were still resting either side of him on the counter behind; effectively trapping him between her and the sink.

"Weeeellll..." she answered, drawing out the word like she'd heard him do so often. It was a bit sexy, the Doctor thought. Well. Okay. A _lot _sexy. But he couldn't think about that right now. She was drunk. She was his friend. She was his drunken friend. "You'll just have to catch me if I fall then, won't you?" She smiled up at him cheekily, and the Doctor had to find some almost-dead strand of willpower not to kiss her right there and then. _Drunk friend, drunk friend, drunk friend, _he repeated to himself in his head.

"Rose. We're not going out now. Let's just...I don't know. What do humans do for entertainment in the evenings?" he asked her, then immediately wished he hadn't. But oh well. She could take that however she wanted. Although...should he really encourage her? She'd been getting pretty flirty all by herself, though that was down to the alcohol...

She grinned at him mischievously. "Well, apart from the obvious," she began, and he swallowed visibly. _The Obvious. Rassilon..._ "I suppose there's just the T.V. I wonder what crappy reality shows they have on Kalo..." she pondered.

"Rose," he started, and was promptly horrified at how husky his voice sounded. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Right, well, T.V it is then."

"Yeah," she replied. She didn't move away.

"So..." he trailed off, motioning for her to set him free.

"Huh?" she asked, looking at him intensely for a moment. Then, she blinked and took a step back, jumping into action. "Come on then."

He felt momentarily bereft without her so close to him, without her warmth radiating from her body to his through that small, empty space that had stood between them. Then, he shook his head at himself, and followed her over to the small sofa, plonking himself down in the middle of it, crossing his ankles and resting them on the coffee table, while she bent over in front of him to switch on the T.V.

Woah. Okay. She really shouldn't bend over like that.

And he really shouldn't have been thinking about..._that _right now.

She did look good in those jeans, though.

She turned to face him, and frowned rather hilariously, a look of indignation on her face. "You gonna hog the whole sofa or what?"

He grinned and shuffled over a few inches, sitting somewhat diagonally, giving her _just _enough room to squeeze in next to him.

She wasn't drunk enough not to notice the way his arm casually threw itself over her shoulder and instinctively pulled her even closer. But she was drunk enough to have the confidence to question him about it...

"'T's funny, how normal this has become, eh Doctor?" she murmured. The T.V had flickered on, but neither of them was seriously going to pay attention and watch what it was showing.

"What, this domestic stuff? We've only been here a day."

"No, no, I don't mean that. Eugh, no, this isn't normal at all. What I _meant _was, it's funny how _us_, being like..._this,_ has become normal. Like, it's been like this almost from the beginning, too – even when you were virtu-virtually a complete stranger with big ears."

"Hey!" he protested. "I liked those ears."

"No, you didn't."

"Fine. But you did," he countered.

"Well, I s'pose they were something quite endeer edee-? _endearing _about you," she giggled quietly, slurring certain words quite spectacularly.

"Thanks," he muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, what were you saying before I was enraged by your insult?"

She suddenly laughed loudly at that, and it sobered her up a little. "Oh. Nothing. Doesn't matter."

"No, go on. You were saying about how...what? How close we are?" he asked, a tad nervous about where this conversation was going, even as he prompted her to continue it.

She snuggled into his body even closer, if that were possibly possible, and brought her legs up to rest on the sofa. Her head lay on his chest, comforted by the soft double thump-thump of his hearts.

"Rose?" he murmured when she didn't answer him.

"Mmm."

"Is that what you mean?"

"Yeah. I s'pose, what I'm trying to say is that I don't do this with just anyone."

"I should hope not," he cried indignantly, before instantly telling himself to shut up sounding so outraged by the idea. It wasn't like she belonged to him or anything. They weren't...a _couple._ Not really.

She smiled, having enjoyed his last comment immensely. "Why's that, then?" she asked, feigning ignorance to the Doctor's constant jealousy whenever she'd attracted the attention of someone else. Because she knew. Realistically, she _knew _he got jealous, however much he denied it. She didn't quite understand _why _he got like that, but she knew he did.

He swallowed thickly. How was he going to get out of that one?

"You know why," he whispered into her ear tenderly.

She was surprised by that. "Um...no I don't," she replied.

"Well then, more fool you," he exclaimed, his voice back to normal volume.

"Right..."she said, feeling like she was missing some massive part of the jigsaw.

Which she was. Particularly, the piece that said: 'The Doctor Loves Rose Tyler.'

"I don't do this with 'just anyone' either. But...well, I think I accidently let you get a lot closer to me than anyone else has ever done," he mumbled.

"Accidently?" Rose repeated.

"Yep."

"Right..." she said again, even more confused.

They were silent for a while, neither of them daring to speak next. Where could they possibly go with this conversation? Rose was drunk and most likely to forget it had ever happened anyway, and the Doctor should not encourage any further discussion on the topic in case he accidently admitted that he...well, that he...sort of...maybe...loved her. More than he should.

So much more.

He listened to her breaths evening out, stroking her hair absently, as she fell into sleep. And then he didn't know what to do. Should he stay here, with her asleep like this? Or should he carry her to the bedroom, and let her sleep in the comfort of a double bed?

Oh dear.

He eventually decided on the latter, and carefully sat up, wrapping one arm around her shoulders, the other beneath her legs. He lifted her up and carried her through to their – well, her – bedroom, awkwardly flinging back the covers with one hand and settling her down on the bed. He tucked her in and sat watching her for a few moments, admiring her beautiful features as they pulled amused and contented expressions in her sleep.

He wondered whether she was dreaming about him.

He made to move away, when suddenly he felt a hand slip into his, pulling him down next to her. "Where you going?" she asked, her voice muffled slightly by a yawn. "Sofa's not that comfy."

He looked at her warily. "Are you sure?"

"We've shared worse beds before. This 'sno different," she explained tiredly.

The Doctor didn't need much more convincing. He took off his jacket and shoes, loosened his tie, to lie down beside her.

She wearily lifted the covers up with one arm, expecting him to get under, her face pressed into her pillow. She lifted her head when he didn't move. "I don't bite, you know. Well. At least, not when I'm so tired." At his raised eyebrow, which she could just about make out as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she gave him a rather dazzling grin for one as tired as she, before dropping her head back to the pillow. He took her lead and shuffled under the covers.

They lay there, side by side, him watching her sleep silently.

Well. He'd thought she was asleep.

"Doctor, stop watching me," she said, and her voice startled him out of his thoughts.

He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Can't help it."

Then she realised something. He didn't need to sleep, himself. "You can go if you want; if you're bored or whatever. You don't have to sit here with me all night. I didn't think..." she mumbled sleepily.

"I don't want to go. I'm not bored. I want to sit here all night."

Rose murmured her agreement and promptly fell asleep. The Doctor turned to lie on his back and he stared at the ceiling, thinking. He wasn't sure how long they were going to be stuck here. Things could start to get awkward. They never had before, but this time...being stuck in one place...things might happen. Especially if she intended to get drunk and ask him to share this bed with her every night.

_This is bad. _

Rose shifted, snuggling closer to the Doctor, resting her hand on his chest, in between his hearts. His arm instantly curled around her shoulders to hold her close, before he even realised what he was doing.

_Oh, this is bad._

He watched her sleeping, watched her smiling softly at whatever nonsense her subconscious was providing her with. He loved her smile. The hand on his chest drifted down to rest on his hip, and he took a sharp intake of breath as she fit herself even further against his body, her leg pushing in between his.

_Very bad._

She was half-against him, half-atop him, and the Doctor was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on repeating all those 101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler over and over again in his head like a mantra. Particularly emphasising no. 56 in his mind: 'When sleeping in the same bed as her, DO NOT kiss her, otherwise she, as she is human and I am rather dashing, will take the opportunity to take things _that way.'_ Which would be bad.

_Very, very bad._

And then...oh.

_Weeelll._

_It was all her fault. _

_It was her moan that did it_, he rationalised. He'd have got through it if she hadn't made that little moan of contentment just then. He rolled slightly, so that he was on his side, leaning on his elbow. She fell out of his embrace a little, her head finding the pillow again rather than the Doctor's shoulder. But her arms were still wrapped around him, and her leg was still intertwined with his. He leaned over her, and hesitantly pressed the softest of kisses to her cheek.

Well. It would've been her cheek. If she hadn't turned her head at exactly the wrong (_right) _moment.

So...the Doctor kissed Rose, who was asleep, on the lips, throwing no. 56 _right _out of the window.

Things possibly couldn't have gotten any worse.

And then she opened her eyes.

_Ah._

So things _could _have gotten worse.

The Doctor froze, his face still hovering over hers. He swallowed nervously, waiting for her to speak. But her eyes fluttered closed again, a small smile playing across her lips. He frowned.

Okay. Maybe he'd gotten no. 56 a bit wrong. Maybe it should be: 'When sleeping in the same bed as her, DO NOT kiss her, otherwise I, as I'm in love with her and she is exceedingly beautiful, will want to take the opportunity to take things _that way._'

She was still asleep.

But that was good. She was drunk, and he would never have taken advantage. When it came to it, he wanted it to be when she was fully aware of what she was...hang on. What? No. It was never going to come to that. Because of the 101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler. That's right. No kissing, so definitely no...other stuff. Exactly.

_Rassilon._

He took a deep breath, and cuddled her closer. _Weeelll, in for penny_...he thought to himself.

Then, he let himself drift off into a deep sleep, in which he dreamed some truly beautiful things.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Slow Path - Chapter 7**

When she woke up, Rose got the shock of her life. She blinked a few times, disorientated, before realising that she was in the bedroom in their temporary flat. In the bed. But the thing that shocked her most of all was that _he_ was lying there with her. She was snuggled in to him, an arm resting over his waist, a leg flung – rather dangerously - over his hip. And the Doctor was asleep. More than that; the Doctor was asleep, with his face nuzzled into her neck, his arms wrapped around her.

Her head hurt a bit; she can't really remember what happened last night but she knew she'd drunk a lot of wine. And then she'd had one hell of a dream. She'd dreamt that she and the Doctor were on the TARDIS, in the library, snuggling up on the sofa drinking hot chocolate together. And then he'd been about to kiss her cheek, when she'd turned her head to capture his lips instead. It had felt so real, that last bit.

Okay. So, that last bit had been real. But she didn't know that, did she? No, she did not. Things like that only happened in her dreams. Not in real life.

Or so she thought.

Anyway, fact was, Rose didn't really know what to do.

_Should I wake him? _she thought.

She'd been lying there in his arms as still as anything for at least five minutes trying to decide whether or not to alert him to their current position. She hadn't even chanced moving her leg from its casual place propped up around his hip, in case he woke up with her movements.

Thing was, if he awoke to find them like this, he'd be really freaked out, and probably rather embarrassed, and then he'd blame it all on her or something if he realised she'd been awake before him.

Therefore, it occurred to Rose that perhaps it would be better for her to just pretend to be asleep; that way, he could make the first move back into a more normal, less precarious embrace. Rather than this, which to any stranger looking in, would look like some sort of post-coital snuggle...

_Lord help me._

And then she felt him nuzzle the point at which her neck met her shoulder with his nose, and she knew she was doomed. She couldn't believe she was this close to him, and he was this close to her, and he wasn't even awake. She _really _couldn't believe how, despite him not being awake, she was still totally turned on. Maybe there was something wrong with her.

He nuzzled her neck again, and she thought he was stirring into wakefulness, but she was wrong. The Doctor was still very much asleep.

Once she realised this, she was even more confused. What did he think she was? His teddy bear or something?

And then she felt his left hand wander from its position at her waist down to grasp underneath her thigh; the very thigh that belonged to her leg that was angled to perfectly wrap around his hip.

Maybe not a teddy bear, then.

Rose suddenly had a thought. Was he...? Maybe, just maybe, the Doctor was dreaming... Why else would he practically be touching her up in his sleep? This thought secretly thrilled her, thinking that perhaps he wasn't so indifferent to her after all. But then she was horrifyingly aware of the fact that seeing as he was over 900 years old with plenty more experiences to be dreaming about, he might not actually be dreaming about her. This thought made her immensely jealous of whomever it was _really_ occupying his subconscious thoughts, and she felt like getting up out of bed right away and refusing to speak to him for the whole day.

Except she couldn't do that. Because as jealous as she felt, she couldn't help but relish in the fact that at least it was her that was sharing a bed with him, not someone else. Granted, it was supposed to be platonically. But you know. The fact that she loved him should count for something. And after all, he had kissed her. Twice, now. Although, one of those was in a dream...but it felt so real...

Oh.

Maybe it _had _been real. Maybe she'd woken up in the night and _he'd_ been dreaming and accidently kissed her. _Hmmm..._

Rose was becoming increasingly aware that the Doctor's hand on the underside of her thigh was gripping tighter, and as he pulled her closer towards him, she tried to steady her breathing. She was genuinely surprised that he hadn't woken up yet; surely his superior Time Lord senses would have noticed her rapidly beating heart pressed up against his chest even in sleep? Then again, she realised that his hearts were beating rather quickly too.

This was all so confusing.

And very frustrating.

The one time he showed any sort of interest in her in _that_ way and he was _asleep!_ Typical.

_Stupid alien._

His head pulled away from her neck slightly, and with a start she saw that his eyes were wide open and staring straight at her.

He swallowed thickly, and glanced down at his hand holding her leg around his waist. He blinked a few times and then loosened his grip on her.

She removed her leg and shuffled away from him a little and almost sighed at the loss of contact with his body. Almost. But she resisted, because she couldn't let him know how much she had enjoyed that. Which was _a lot._ Thing was, now her body was anticipating a whole lot more, and she wasn't going to get that, was she? No, she was not. Because he was the Doctor, and whatever he was dreaming about, it still wouldn't make him do anything about it in his conscious state.

He was breathing heavily, she noticed, and his mouth was opening and closing as if trying to figure out something to say. Then, they both looked away from each other awkwardly; he flipped over onto his back; she rolled over onto her side, facing away from him.

And so, it looked like they were going to pretend _that_ never happened.

Which would, in theory, be the best, most appropriate thing to do. They were just friends, and they couldn't let this – whatever '_this' _had been – ruin that.

Neither of them wanted to ignore it though. It meant something. They both knew it did.

Rose steadied her breathing, willing her heart rate to return to normal. The Doctor did the same. And then, he undid all their simultaneous hard work by one very simple action.

He turned on his side so that he was facing Rose's back. She felt him shift closer to her, and her heart rate sped up again. He lifted himself on his elbow and leant over her shoulder, peering down at her. "Rose?" he murmured softly, his breath ghosting over her cheek.

She swallowed audibly and with a shaky voice answered him. "Yeah?"

"Look at me a moment," he requested.

She turned onto her back and stared up at him.

"Thanks. Right. Erm...look, we can't exactly ignore...that," he paused, stumbling over his words. "So...erm..."

"It's ok," Rose replied. "Didn't mean anything, right?" she asked, guessing what his next point would be.

He looked into her eyes and she saw something change in his. His eyes glazed over slightly and he fell back onto his back. "Right," he murmured quietly.

She turned her head to look at him. "Or maybe..." she began tentatively. Then she screwed up her face in a troubled frown and banned herself from continuing that sentence. She wouldn't be able to stand it if he blatantly rejected her, so she wouldn't risk it.

He turned his head to face her too. They were both lying there, their heads resting on the same pillow, faces inches apart. There was something in the air; something between them had intensified somewhat. And it scared them both.

So the Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly and jumped up off the bed, and the moment was lost.

"Right, breakfast time," he called over his shoulder as he walked out of the bedroom.

"Yeah," replied Rose softly. She was annoyed at herself for feeling so disappointed, but she knew this was for the best. She couldn't risk losing his friendship by telling him that he meant so much more to her than she let on.

She heaved herself up and followed him into the kitchen, still in her clothes from yesterday.

He felt her presence in the room and immediately stiffened, deciding to be resilient towards her every movement today. He couldn't risk her seeing him stare at her the way he does, so he should just stop staring altogether. He also couldn't risk her asking about what he had been dreaming of, or why he had moved them both into such a dangerous position while they slept, so he should just not talk to her.

Therefore, not-staring-at-Rose and not-talking-to-Rose was what he shall do.

"Doctor, did we get any painkillers yesterday?" she asked, clutching her head. "My head is _killing_ me..."

He turned and looked at her strangely for a moment, and Rose was unaware that he was caught up in a sense of nostalgia. A very vivid memory.

Then, he muttered a "Don't think so," and span back to the bowls and box of cereal he'd just got out.

_Well. That not-staring-at-Rose and not-talking-to-Rose thing lasted all of five seconds_, he thought to himself.

Then Rose had a revelation.

She decided, simply by watching him pour out the cereal into their bowls, that she wanted him to know that actually, that – back there, what happened in the bedroom - _did_ mean something; to her at least. She realised that she couldn't go another day doing this domestic stuff without telling him how she felt, or she'd explode. She realised all this; and he was only preparing her cornflakes.

She had no clue how to go about resolving it, though. Therefore, she planned on getting the Doctor to work it out for himself, without her having to actually say anything. Yes. That would be better.

"Doctor?" she murmured, walking towards him. She rested her hand on his shoulder lightly, and was surprised when he flinched under her touch.

"Mmm?" he replied, and it sounded rather high-pitched, Rose thought.

"Are you ok?" She came closer, and replaced her hand on his shoulder with her chin, her arms wrapping around his waist tightly.

And that's when he knew. She was playing a dangerous game. And yet she evidently thought it was worth it. So maybe he should play too.

He cleared his throat. "I'm wonderful, Rose Tyler," he replied, a newfound confidence coming to light, completely ignoring the side of him that earlier insisted that he should avoid _that _topic of conversation at all costs.

"Yeah?" she asked, feeling like she was on to something.

"Mmhmm. Must've been that delightful dream I was having earlier; put me in a good mood," he said conversationally, moving out of her hug to sit down at the table with his bowl. Yep, _completely _ignoring his earlier thoughts.

He was trying to look disinterested. But really, he was fascinated by the way her eyes had widened so obviously, to accompany the blush tainting her cheeks with an expression of complete bafflement.

She grabbed the milk and sloshed some over the side of her bowl of cereal as she poured it out. She cursed her stupid brain for making her stupid hands so stupidly shaky right now.

She sat down opposite him and began to eat, a frown placed firmly on her face as she contemplated her next move in this perilous game.

...

**A/N: Heya! Hope you liked the chapter. Drop me a review if you want :D Just to let you know, I'm going on holiday on Saturday, so unfortunately I won't be able to update for a while. **

**Love you all, Laura xxx**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Slow Path - Chapter 8**

He could tell that she was trying really hard not to ask him what he had been dreaming about. And, just as he suspected she would eventually do, she opened her mouth to speak; but the knock on the door interrupted her before she could utter a single word.

They both jumped a little at the sound, as both had been distracted by anything else except looking at each other for a long while up until that untimely knock.

The Doctor was extremely annoyed that their moment, whatever that may have meant, was broken. Rose leapt out of her seat to answer the door, obviously eager to find an interruption to their already halted conversation, and the Doctor sighed.

She opened the door with a flourish, and found Daniel standing there. "Oh," she murmured. Then, remembering the teasing Time Lord and his inability to follow through with anything remotely inclined towards the sexual end of the spectrum of relationships, she plastered on her best Rose Tyler's So Happy To See You Smile. This would show him. "Hello!" she greeted enthusiastically, completely thrilled by the scowl she could see the Doctor was giving her, out of the corner of her eye.

"Hi Rose. You look fantastic this morning!" Daniel told her flirtingly.

Rose grimaced inwardly. She knew he was lying, simply to try and flatter her. She must've looked awful; she was wearing yesterday's clothes and most probably had bedhead hair and bad breath. Nevertheless, she gave a small smile. "Thanks." She looked at his attire; he was dressed really smartly in a nice fitted suit and was holding a briefcase in one hand. After a moment's hesitation, she continued, "So do you."

The Doctor's scowl deepened.

Rose was even more thrilled. It seemed that today, she would finally get some reactions out of him.

"Thanks. Going to a _really_ important business meeting this morning. You know, _classified _and all that," he said, trying to sound impressive.

The Doctor snorted.

"Riiight," Rose said slowly, nodding as if in approval. "So, what can I do for you?"

She saw Daniel hesitate for a second. Then he proceeded to talk in a low voice so that the Doctor would not hear. "Rose, when does John go to work?"

She was surprised at this random question. "Actually, he's not got a job 'round here yet. We just moved, so..." she trailed off.

"Oh," he said, sounding disappointed.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"I just...well. I thought maybe you and me could go for a drink this lunchtime."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Just you and me?"

"Yeah," he said, giving her a flirtatious smile.

"That man sitting over there?" She gestured towards the Doctor. "I'm married to him," Rose pointed out, playing along with their 'couple' charade. _If only..._

"I know. But I just wanted you to know that the offer's always there. If you get bored," he told her, winking.

Rose had to hold in a laugh. She opened her mouth to decline his offer once and for all, because she realised that it was _sooo_ wrong to encourage this guy, and she didn't even want to anyway.

But the Doctor spoke before she had a chance. "Danny boy! How nice to see you again. And so _soon!"_ he cried with false joviality.

Daniel stepped back a little, shocked by the sudden appearance of the Doctor walking up behind Rose. "Hi," he said back, a bit nervously, if he was honest.

Rose smiled inwardly when the Doctor's possessive nature got the better of him and he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her; the same way she had done to him earlier in the kitchen.

Yes. They were finally getting somewhere.

_Maybe it's not all one-sided after all_...Rose thought.

"Hadn't you better get off to that very important meeting?" the Doctor asked innocently.

"Well - " Daniel began.

" – only we've got some very important things to be getting on with ourselves," interrupted the Doctor.

_Have we? _Rose thought. Unfortunately, Rose missed his rather comical waggling of the eyebrows.

"Right. Yeah, well. I'll um...see you later," stuttered Daniel, retreating backwards. Then Rose watched in bemusement as he sprinted down the corridor.

"That was weird. One minute he was all cocky and arrogant, the next he's running off like a scared - "

"I gave him The Look," the Doctor admitted, turning Rose around and pushing the door closed, his hand resting there, parallel to her head as he more or less trapped her between the door and himself.

Rose shivered at their close proximity; there was enough space between to fit a very large book, maybe. War and Peace, perhaps? But barely. The closeness was so enticing, and so were his eyes. "What look's that?"

"The Oncoming Storm one," he answered, in a tone that implied that that should've been obvious.

"Ah. Right. I see. Jealous are you?" she asked.

"What? No. Don't be ridiculous. Why would I be jealous of him? He's...eugh. No. Anyway, Time Lords don't get jealous, Rose."

Rose nodded. "Course not," she said sincerely. Or it would've sounded sincere. If she'd _been_ sincere. It didn't; he knew she wasn't. Because she followed it right up with a disbelieving laugh.

"Rose, I don't know what you are finding so funny."

"If you weren't jealous, why did you bother getting up and wrapping your arms around me and making insinuations about us to Daniel, then?"

"I was...Weeelll, we are supposed to be married. I was...I was acting," he replied, with a decisive nod of the head. He rather liked that idea. He'd be a terrific actor. He could visit Shakespeare, and find out wheth –

"Acting," Rose repeated sarcastically, enunciating the word in such a delicious way that his thoughts of playing Hamlet or whatever were abruptly cut off.

He swallowed thickly, wondering how on Kalo he was going to be able to get through however long they were trapped here for without ignoring his 101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler completely and utterly.

"Were you 'acting' this morning, too?" she asked him.

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

She blushed slightly, and bit her lip. "Um...well, um..." Then she thought that the best way to discuss this was to come out and say it, straight to the point. "When I woke up to find you in my bed holding my leg around your waist as if you were trying to...well, you know...?"

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Oh. That."

She stared up at him questioningly. Waiting.

"Um..." he began. He thought things over; what he could say, how he could say it. What he _should_ say, how he_ should_ say it. Then what he really couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't ever say (The Truth.) "Um..."

Realising she wasn't going to get an answer any time soon, Rose thought it would be better to leave him to his musings and go and get washed and dressed. Her head was still throbbing, but she knew he'd still make them go out exploring today; seeing as her headache was very much self-inflicted she doubted he'd have any sympathy for her. She suspected she'd have to find a job today, too. And wouldn't that be fun. Hence, she needed to freshen up.

"Doctor?" she said, in her special Rose Way that made him want to kiss her. He wasn't sure how or why she was able to do that. But...

...Well. Just the sound of her saying his name like that made him revise his decision about what to say all over again. He'd never realised how dangerous this was: her and him staying in one place. He'd known for a long, long time that he was in love with her. But he could never, should never and would never tell her that.

That hurt his hearts.

But not as much as they were guaranteed to hurt once she left.

And so he always thought he'd be able to ignore the way he felt about her for as long as she was with him, wherever and whenever they ended up. Because that was for the best. Then it wouldn't hurt so much...

...oh, of course it would. He was just kidding himself. It wasn't going to hurt any more or less whether he told her he loved her not, not really. He just didn't want to risk her leaving prematurely. So he wouldn't tell her.

And yet now, with her being so..._her_...oh, it was all going to end in tears, was this trip. They'd only been stuck here a day and he was already losing all his carefully constructed self-control. He wasn't sure why; maybe it was just everything finally reaching boiling point. The point of no return.

And if that dream of his was anything to go by...

..._Rassilon_, was he screwed.

He'd never dreamt a dream like _that _before. Ever. Ever ever ever ever _ever_. Not even about her.

Well. Okay. Maybe about her.

Occasionally.

Frequently.

Or somewhere in between.

But anyway...he hadn't ever had a dream like that about her while she was lying right next to him. Cuddling up to him. Therefore, things appeared to be getting _exponentially _more dangerous.

So he would not say anything. He would pretend it meant nothing, and they would go on as normal until he did something equally dangerous, like hug her too close or kiss her again et cetera, and so it would continue. The cycle. They could do that.

As long as the routine of Dangerous-Moment-Doctor-Nearly-Kissed-Rose was followed swiftly by Doctor-Denies-Dangerous-Moment-Ever-Existed, they would be just fine.

They would be friends, nothing more. He would hold her hand, and he would ignore the way it made him feel inside. He would show her the universe, and not stare at her admiringly when she was too busy looking at a supernova to notice. He would not kiss her, or anything more than that, and he most definitely _would not_ tell her he loved her.

He felt like he had finally got somewhere in his internal argument with himself.

And then she had to go and ruin it. She threw him right off track with six very simple, yet very representative words.

"I'm gonna take a shower, okay?" she murmured.

He blinked. Okay? Okay? _Okay? _Yes, that was very much okay. That was very nicely more than okay. That was very, very, extremely beautiful and

_Can I join you?_

he most certainly did not ever want to ever ever ever ever ever _ever _think of that image ever again. And he definitely didn't want to follow her right now. Definitely not.

_I'm a Time Lord. I don't do that. I don't think that. I don't want that. I don't physically need that. _

If that were so, then why was he suddenly aching for her?

He did not know.

He just did not know.

But he did think it, and he did want it, and apparently, he did need it.

Didn't change the fact that he did not do it.

...

**A/N: Hellooo :D hope you liked this chapter. Sorry it took a while :/ back to school now, so things might get a little less frequent on the updating side I'm afraid. And at some point, I PROMISE, I will continue Distractions, too. But yeah, I think I'm doing too much at once lol. Anyways, hope this was worth the wait, and next chapter will be written as soon as I can, please be patient and don't give up on me ;) thanks lovely people xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Slow Path - Chapter 9**

He was lying on the bed with his eyes closed when she came into the room wearing nothing but a short towel wrapped around her. He sensed her entrance, but thought it best not to open his eyes when, no doubt, she looked so wonderful. Trouble was, she always looked wonderful, and so the Doctor thought that the time had come for him to learn how to walk around and save the universe blind-folded. He was pretty sure he could do it. And things were getting too easy anyway. Might shake things up.

Hence, his eyes remained closed.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Rose asked apprehensively. She wasn't sure why he was lying on the bed with his eyes closed rather than doing something decidedly more Doctor-ish like tinkering with the toaster and blowing it up. Or something.

Rose stepped closer to the bed. She clutched at her towel to stop it falling down. She wouldn't want him to get an eyeful if he suddenly opened his eyes.

(Liar. Course she would.)

"Doctor?" she called gently.

He could not reply. Apparently, even with one sense omitted, hearing her voice still managed to make things a bit...odd. If he replied, he was rather positive of the fact that his voice would sound far too squeaky than was deemed dignified.

Hence, he did not speak.

Rose frowned. _Is he asleep? _she thought to herself. "Doctor?" she repeated.

When he made no response, Rose sighed, and turned to the wardrobe. She pulled out her new top and jeans, and then walked over to the chest of drawers to get some underwear. Holding her change of clothes in her hands, she glanced nervously at the Doctor again. Seeing he was obviously still asleep, she quickly dropped her towel and proceeded to get into her underwear.

The Doctor gulped. He could hear the whisper of fabric, and suspected she'd just dropped her towel. _Brilliant. Just brilliant,_ he thought sarcastically.

"Owww!" shrieked Rose as she stubbed her toe on the bedpost.

At the sound of her cries, the Doctor sat up abruptly. "Are you alr - " he began, then stopped, eyes wide. She was biting her lip and hopping. In her bra and knickers.

(Fortunately, she had managed to get them on beforehand.

Well, some might say _un_fortunately. You know, depending on their perspective. Nevertheless, they were on. And on or not, he had the optimum viewing location, which was indeed a fortunate thing.

Well. Depending on your perspective.)

Anyway, the fact was, the Doctor didn't think he'd ever seen something as ridiculously lovely as that particular sight in front of him.

Rose stopped hopping about on one foot, trying to shake the pain away from her other, and blinked at him. "I...um, I whacked my toe. I'm fine. Well, I will be. Bloody hurts actually, but these things pass, eh?" she commented nervously.

He nodded quickly. "Yes. Right. Good."

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Are you a bit shell-shocked about seeing me in my underwear?" she asked innocently.

His eyes met hers. "No. Course not. Seen you in your underwear before, after all."

She squinted her eyes at him, thinking carefully. "Um, no you haven't."

He swallowed thickly. "No? No. No, course I haven't. Anyway, I'm just going to...yeah..." he replied hastily, jumping off the bed and making for the door.

Rose grinned at herself. Definitely shell-shocked. She couldn't resist teasing him a little. "Doctor?" she called after him. He paused in the doorway, facing away from her. "You see something you like?"

It was quite possible the Doctor's knees could have buckled under him at that moment, but of course, he was a Time Lord, and Time Lords were never reduced to such a thing, and so his knees behaved accordingly.

He did, however, acknowledge her question, with a response that was quite likely responsible for taking the unresolved sexual tension up another notch. Or three.

"Maybe," he replied cheerfully, and walked out of the room.

Rose's jaw dropped. Okay, so she wasn't expecting that. He just kept surprising her these days. She couldn't help but wonder what other unexpected revelations would arise during their little holiday here on Kalo.

She got dressed quickly, and followed him. "So, where are we going?" she asked casually, linking her arm through his as he stood waiting by the front door for her.

He blinked a few times, then realised she had asked him a question. "Oh, you know; here and there. Police station, job centre..."

Rose groaned, and they exited their flat, Rose locking it behind them.

...

**A/N: short chapter I know, but chapter 10 is up too, so don't worry, just click next ;D**

**hope you like so far xxx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

They wandered around the town for a bit, doing some investigating into the police force and the rules and regulations of the place, and discovered that they'd need to mastermind a full plan of attack – or rather, a plan of how to secretly get past a top-rate security system and the forty-eight staff that were involved in guarding all the confiscated, unregistered vehicles and various other censored property – if they were going to successfully retrieve the TARDIS without hanging around and paying that huge fine...

Neither of them could be bothered to think of a plan right then, however, because they suddenly spotted a quaint little side street with interesting shops and market traders, and spent most of the day there instead, arm-in-arm...and on dangerous territory in terms of flirtatious remarks...

"I'm just saying, if Rita the Home Squad-er really wanted to help us, she ought to have gone all out and pointed us to the nearest registry office. We don't look the type to want a big, flouncy, expensive wedding do we? So the 'prices of weddings have soared this year' remark she made wouldn't be a problem," he pointed out.

"What, so you're saying that we should _actually _get married? Just for this silly charade we're doing?" Rose starting cackling with laughter, before dropping her voice low and mock-seductively saying, "So that we're not really '_living in sin_?'"

The Doctor chuckled and stopped walking, picking up a pair of sunglasses from a stall. "Well, if we were _actually _living in sin, then maybe we ought to." He tried the sunglasses on and she continued to laugh at him. "Currently, we are very much not, in case you are unaware." He put the sunglasses back on the stall. They were orange, after all, and not at all his style.

Rose swallowed her laughter and looked at him sceptically, whilst flicking through postcards on a stand outside a souvenir shop with her free hand. "'Currently?' So is that, likely to occur in the _future_, do you think?" she teased.

"Who knows?" He waggled his eyebrows flirtatiously.

"What happens on Kalo..." Rose started, giggling into his arm. She pointed to a t-shirt proclaiming that very saying.

"Goes straight back onto the TARDIS and continues indefinitely," he finished, grinning madly. _Bloody hell, _he thought. _I'm just asking for trouble, now. Will my brain start working properly at all today, I wonder?_

"You're terrible," she tutted, shaking her head. _Getting all my hopes up with your silly pretend little play-acting. I just wish you would mean it, you idiot._

"You started it," he snorted.

"What? How did I start it?" Rose asked in bewilderment.

"Well, you encourage it, you do," he informed her nonchalantly. _What am I doing? Why am I telling her this? _he asked himself.

"Encourage _what _exactly?" she scoffed. "Sorry to break this to you Doctor, but I'm not encouraging you to do anything. I'm just playing the part!" she grinned. _Lies lies lies..._

"You swore blind to that shopkeeper earlier that you'd need those, uh, those – _things, _um - " he gestured randomly in the air with his hand. "And if you were just playing the part, you wouldn't have made me _keep_ them." He patted his pocket and winked at her. "You could've just...thrown them in the bin after you bought them."

Rose smirked, recalling her earlier improvisation with an eager salesman in a backstreet chemist's trying to sell them a certain form of contraception and the Doctor's accompanying deer-in-the-headlights face. "You don't fool me, Doctor. I know you know exactly what they are called. And anyway, who says I _don't? _Maybe that bit wasn't playing the part."

He glared at her. "Well, I should hope you're not planning an affair, Mrs Smith."

She grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it," she vowed playfully, unlinking their arms so that she could latch onto his hand.

_Well, I should bloody hope not. _"Good," he replied with a nod, intertwining their fingers. He'll have to accidently-on-purpose lose them, he decided. Or pretend that he'd lost them. Yes, that'd be better. _Just in cas – no, stop it! Not. Going. To happen._ _Ever. At all. Unless - no. Shut up, self. NEVER._

"And that goes for you too, naturally," she told him, feigning the height of seriousness. Except she wasn't feigning it, not really, because she meant every word; as if he truly was committed to her. "No messing me around."

"Pfft," he remarked. "I could never do that." _You know that, don't you? You must know that. _

"Yeah, well that ice-cream girl was certainly giving you an eyeful earlier," she mumbled grumpily, remembering how the leggy brunette had shoved her chest in his direction whilst handing them their cornets.

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously. He hadn't even noticed.

"That girl that was chatting you up with her low-cut top and her _have a niiice daaaayyy!" _Rose reminded him, imitating the girl's sickingly sweet, chirpy voice.

"Oh, her?" he said, recognising the voice. "She was just being friendly," he defended.

"Yeah, and then you went and were friendly back and she wrote her number on the back of your hand!" Rose exclaimed, holding up the evidence.

"Oh yeah," he remembered, smiling sheepishly. "Well, what can I say, when you've got it..."

Rose snorted and licked her free thumb, before rubbing the number off with a triumphant, "Ha!"

"Rose, I barely remembered what you were going on about, you really thought I was going to actually _ring _the woman?"

"Well I don't know. You have been acting different since we got here. Maybe Kalo's making you all...dating and dancing-y," she muttered.

"If it is, then it'll be dating and dancing with you, not some random person I've only just met," he retorted.

Rose looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," he replied, giving her hand a squeeze and staring down at her meaningfully for a moment. He cleared his throat. "No one else would put up with me the way you do."

"You don't know how lucky you are!" Rose agreed, tongue poking between her teeth impishly as she smiled.

"I do," he replied softly, absently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. "I do know how lucky I am."

She pursed her lips to hide another smile, and then noticed something up ahead. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Oh, we _have _to get _that!"_

The Doctor let himself be pulled along by an excited Rose, but when he got to her destination – some sort of kitchen-appliance market stall – he groaned and wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"R-_ose," _he whined, groaning again when she picked the object up. "We do _not _have to get _that!"_

"Why not? It's brilliant! Look, it's half-whisk, half- um, other twirly thing that I think you twirl pasta with, and half-something else that I'm sure we'll discover at some point," she explained animatedly, realising she'd made a mathematical error but not caring because _third_-whisk et cetera didn't sound half so good.

"When are we gonna use it?" he pointed out. _She only wants it 'cos it's pink. She doesn't even know what it does. Women!_

"Well, we're stuck here for a bit, aren't we? Remember – we've got our own little flat and everything? Who knows how long it's going to take before we get the TARDIS back! We could use one of these!"

"I thought you didn't like all this domestic stuff," he muttered. "Next you'll be acting like some crazy housewife and ordering loads of meaningless crap from the Kalo shopping channel!"

"I won't be acting like a housewife at all, thanks very much – getting myself a job aren't I? To support _you, _I hasten to add!"

Not that they'd been to the job centre yet. They'd all but forgotten about it until now, to tell the truth.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged in response.

"Oh, please, Doctor..." she begged, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling in the way she knew always made him cave.

He looked at her, then looked away. He wasn't going to be tricked into agreeing with her by all her eyelash fluttering and flirtatious smile. He wasn't.

(He probably was.)

"Please?" she asked again, hugging his arm and resting her chin on his shoulder.

He risked a glance down at her. And gave up. "Oh, alright. Well, if we can afford it," he added as an afterthought. It was weird, having to think about things like the possibility of not having enough money for something. So far today they'd only bought inexpensive tiny trinklets and souvenirs from the stalls and little shops. Oh, and the condoms, 'just for a lark.' But nothing that cost too much.

"Yes!" she said triumphantly. "Thanks!"

The Doctor grinned as she gave him a huge hug. He was quite glad he'd said yes now. He checked his pockets for some money when she pulled back, and extracted a crumpled note that belonged to Kalo's currency.

Rose took it gratefully, and handed it over to the vendor.

The vendor shook his head. "Sorry, love. Not enough."

The Doctor was about to dig deeper and find some more money, but Rose flashed the man a winning smile and asked sweetly, "You couldn't just let me off, could you?"

The expression on his face changed. "Well...okay...seeing as you've got such a pretty smile," he grinned, and the Doctor felt a little irritated at the alien for being on the receiving end of a Rose Tyler smile. _She's such a hypocrite! So much for not flirting with the locals_, he thought grumpily.

"Thanks so much," she gushed, accepting her purchase. She turned back to the Doctor, swinging the bag happily in one hand while she looped her free arm through the Doctor's.

"Thought you didn't like stealing from strangers?" he teased, the urge to do so stronger than his jealous annoyance. He bumped their shoulders and took the bag off her, putting it safely in one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets with the other purchases.

"Nothing wrong with a bit of haggling," she retorted, in a tone that reminded him eerily of Jackie, for a moment. He shuddered.

The Doctor didn't mention that all she'd had to do was _smile _at the man and she'd got something for half the price, and that that couldn't exactly be called haggling.

"Anyway," she continued. "I didn't reckon we had much money left, and I thought we could get something for you, too. Only fair," she shrugged nonchalantly.

He smiled down at her appreciation. "You're quite lovely, you are."

"Thanks," she grinned. "So...what do you want? A book? A technological thingamy-whatsit? A novelty hat with, uh, antlers?" She pointed to each object on various stalls around them.

"Nah, I'll just...have this!" he said delightedly, pleased with his discovery. "Look, it's magic!"

Rose shook her head in amusement. "Magic?"

"Weelll, not magic. Quite adorable though, don't you think?"

"It's a snowglobe," Rose stated blankly.

"Yeah, and it's nice, look – you shake it, and the snow floats down around the – uh," he paused, looking a little closer. "Person?" he asked her. He didn't have his glasses on.

Rose leaned in to look at the tiny figure inside. "Yep!" she laughed. "A woman. A very naked woman."

The Doctor's eyes widened and he dropped the offending article back on the stall in alarm. "Ah."

"It's alright," Rose shrugged, giggling. "Get it if you like. You can look at it more closely with your specs on."

He flushed and shook his head. "No, no. It's alright thanks. We'll save some money. Got to buy dinner, after all," he reminded her.

"Might be your only chance to see a naked woman, Doctor," she joked.

"Oi! It might not be," he countered, eying Rose up and down.

She blushed under his obvious gaze on her. "Well, only if you're very lucky," she smiled flirtatiously.

"Which we earlier established that I am," he reminded her with a wink.

Rose ignored this, suppressing a grin. "So, what do you want to do for dinner? I'm getting hungry."

He tilted his head, considering, before spotting an Indian restaurant up ahead. "Fancy trying the curry on Kalo?" he asked her temptingly.

"Ooh, yeah," she enthused, nodding appreciatively, and he grinned.

"Brilliant! It'll be lovely." _Like a date, _he thought to himself distractedly, before shaking his head and pretending to himself that he'd never thought such a thing.

**...**

**A/N: Hiya! Sorry it's been a loooonnnnnnng time coming, but I hope you liked chapter 9 and 10 :D Thanks for reading and thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far with this story, I really appreciated hearing your thoughts. Keep on r&r-ing ;D**

**love Laura xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Hmph, _thought Rose a little while later. _'It'll be lovely.' Famous last words._

That was the night that they got banned from their first restaurant on that planet, you see, after an untimely comment from the Doctor about the atrocity of eel-juice-soaked rice. Turned out eel-juice-soaked rice was their speciality, to go with the famous Frambbbaba-xz curry (which was incidentally, absolutely the single most disgusting thing Rose had ever had the misfortune to try.)

Consequently: the manager-chef bloke disliked the Doctor and Rose quite a lot, and banished them from ever returning, and Rose was in a mood with the Doctor, because she had an awful taste in her mouth that she could not get rid of, even after drinking three glasses of lemonade.

"Rose, are you going to ignore me all the way home?" he asked her, trying to tug her hand out of her jacket pocket so that he could hold it. She was determined to make him miserable it seemed; he was having little success, and his hand flexed uselessly at his side, unused to being bereft of her touch.

She didn't reply and he heaved a huge sigh. _She can't possibly hold a grudge for too long, can she? _he thought.

"Listen, I'm sorry dinner didn't go so well this evening. But listen, I'll make it up to you, yeah? I mean, maybe Kaloen food isn't all that great in the restaurants, we can just get normal food that we know we like from the supermarkets and cook back at the flat from now on. Like you did with that delicious pasta last night, remember? But! When we get the TARDIS back, I'll take you on a tour of the greatest restaurants in the galaxy - " He paused. "- weelll, the ones we haven't been banned from already, anyway - and you'll get to taste the greatest delicacies ever ever _ever._ How's that sound?"

He could see she was starting to smile, and held out his hand again, letting out a huge grin when she relented and took it.

"Fine," she huffed. "I s'pose that will get you off the hook."

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, yanking her closer to him. "Now, any idea where we are?"

Rose, slowly and with an unnerving calmness, turned and _glared _at him. "Are you telling me you don't?"

The Doctor glanced around them. "Ah...well. We're...on Kalo..."

"That all you got?" _You're s'posed to have a good sense of direction, you twit!_

He gulped. "Yeah. I thought you were paying attention to where we were going."

"No, I was too busy being in a strop with you and trying to forget about this god-awful taste in my mouth from that curry." _I wish you could taste it, it's absolutely vile._

"Oh, I bet it wasn't _that _bad," he dismissed. She glared at him harder. _Uh-oh. Probably not the best thing to say._

"I wish you had had the same one, then you'd know how horrible it really is," Rose complained.

"Well, you never know, I might've liked it. My one was yucky too though, you know," he replied.

"Not as disgusting as _this _one," Rose assured him. "Mind you, you do lick random things and show no disgust over it, so maybe you would like it."

"What's it taste like?" _Maybe I should just kiss her and find out?_

Rose wrinkled her nose. "Sort of...shoe polish?"

_Uh. Maybe I won't kiss her then. _He shuddered. "Oh, no. No, I've never taken a fancy to shoe polish."

She rolled her eyes. "Right. So what's the plan, then? Are we just gonna wander around until we find something that we recog – oh! Look, there's the park!"

"Oh yeah! The park!" he exclaimed, following her gaze. He scratched the back of his neck, thinking. "What park?"

"The one round the back of our block of flats," she informed him delightedly. "Which means we're not that far away."

"You see, it's lucky I've got you with me. You're very observant, even in the dark. I'd be lost without you." _I really would. Really, really._

"Well, I just remember thinking that that tree over there - see? With the bench underneath? I remember thinking how pretty it looked, all its blossom out and that, and the streetlight's shining on it nicely so I just saw it out of the corner of my eye."

He smiled at her and then pulled her into an impromptu run towards the tree.

She was laughing hard by the time they got there, and sat on the bench to collect herself. He sat down beside her wearing a hearty grin, throwing his arm around her shoulder comfortably, and she leaned into him. "It's a nice view, isn't it?" he murmured softly, absently rubbing her upper arm when she shivered in the night air.

"Yeah, it is," she agreed, staring out over the city and people and vehicles and noise and bright lights in front of them. "A little bench on a hill in a lush green park in the middle of a hectic city." _With you. Perfect. Oh, it's so perfect._

"A little calm amongst the chaos," he said, half a whisper. _I wish you knew just how beautiful you look in the moonlight. Weeelll. In every light._

"A tiny oasis of peace," Rose supplied. "It's beautiful. You can see everything from here."

He chuckled and rested his chin on the top of her head. "I think we ought to proclaim this 'our bench.'"

"What do you mean?" she murmured, snuggling closer into his side to keep warm. A chill had picked up in the air since they'd left the restaurant, and her jacket wasn't as protective to the breeze as she'd thought it would be upon buying it yesterday.

"Weelll, all couples have a bench, don't they?" he explained. "You know, where they sit and watch the world go by together. And this one's ours."

Her heart rate increased a bit, and she hoped he didn't notice. _God, this man...doesn't he realise what he does to me, saying things like that?_

"Couple, eh?" she prompted teasingly. She heard him swallow thickly and was surprised by it.

"Well, we are married," he justified. _Or rather, we ought to be...wait, what? Oh for Rassilon's sake, why do I keep forgetting...we're friends. Just friends. __Friends._

She sighed, a little wistfully. "That we are." _I wish. God. This is so unfair. I wish you would see it. I wish you could feel the same._

They sat there in companionable silence for several minutes, before Rose started to shiver a bit more. "You're getting cold. Shall we go home? I mean, back to the flat?" asked the Doctor.

Rose shifted out of his embrace and smiled at him. "Yeah. Let's."

They stood, and took a slow stroll back, Rose leading the way.

...

Something between them had shifted somewhat. Rose could feel it, heavy and delicious in the silence between them all the way back. Upon entering their flat, she let go of his hand and went straight into the bathroom.

She put the toilet lid down and sat on it, trying to calm herself. Since leaving the park bench they hadn't uttered a word to each other, but Rose could feel his eyes on her the whole journey. Unused to silence around him, it had made her feel strange; her breathing was erratic and she was convinced her pulse should not be this fast and still be healthy.

She put her head in her hands and thought things over. It'd been a long day today. A great day...but it had started as a means to go on really – the flirting hadn't stopped. Rather, it'd got more intense, more _real._ And then, at the park, just...quiet. Subtle, but...it had been nice. Really nice. He'd been acting as though maybe...maybe things would be...maybe they would...

_Oh, for all I know, he hasn't noticed a difference at all. He's so oblivious. It's probably just normal to him, _she thought.

She splashed her face with cold water and told her reflection to pull herself together.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was pacing. Pacing, pacing, up and down the sitting room, nervously running his hands through his hair.

His resolve was slipping, and fast. His walls, those barriers he'd put up? All but lost. He thought back over the day's events and couldn't believe how close he'd been to...to...

He was going to kiss her. Had been about to, several times. It was only their second day of this strange temporary new life and he was drowning in her. In a good way. In a _magnificent _way. Every moment they'd spent together today, he could feel the electricity, the hidden fire just waiting to explode.

Those 101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler were fading away and fading fast because blimey, he didn't think he'd last much longer pretending that the flirting and the banter and the closeness and the jealousy didn't mean anything, so that's Numbers 70 through 75 gone right there.

It all meant something. It meant everything.

He really hoped she thought that too. Because he had no plan of how to resolve this problem – the problem of them being the best of friends but so much more but not, not yet.

He convinced himself Rose had to be the one to make that move, or he'd only mess it up. So that was what he was going to do. He'd try and try to just, hold back, just a little, so that it was her choice to make. He'll shift the responsibility onto her and then she could do what she wished with it. He wouldn't ruin this. He couldn't bear to ruin this. Rose meant far too much to him to risk losing her if he'd got things wrong.

"Doctor, you alright?" she asked as she walked back into the room.

He tugged at his ear, embarrassed. "Yes, why?"

"You were pacing," she replied.

"Oh, right. Yes. I was just. Uh, I was just thinking about the TARDIS," he lied. "How to get her back."

His hearts sank a little when her eyes lit up in hope. "Got any ideas?"

"Not really."

"Oh. I guess we'll have still have to pay that fine, then, if we can't get in?"

"Mmm. Oh! We didn't get you a job!" he remembered suddenly.

Rose sank down onto the sofa, exhausted. "Nope. We sort of forgot about the job centre didn't we. Having too much fun, that's our problem."

He gave her a small smile. "You should go to bed. You look really tired."

She yawned widely and laughed. "Yeah, think I am. Long day."

"Mmm," he agreed, watching her carefully. "Listen, Rose..."

"Yeah?"

He cleared his throat. _Stick to the plan. Let her decide._ "Nothing, don't worry. Go on, off to bed you go," he insisted, pulling her up.

"Okay," she replied, starting to walk towards the bedroom. She looked over her shoulder when he didn't follow her. "You not sleeping?" _Come with me. Please, _she thought.

"Nah," he dismissed. "I'm still wide awake. Might read a book or something." _Or lay here and think about you all night._

Rose frowned, a little disappointed that she wouldn't get the Doctor to snuggle up to in bed like she did last night. Then she flushed red, remembering how _that_ had turned out.

The Doctor's lips quirked when Rose suddenly blushed. "Plus, if I sleep, I'll only have another inappropriate dream, and that'd be just embarrassing," he said, throwing her a wink.

She shook her head despairingly. _I really don't mind, _she didn't say, and retreated to her bedroom.

In either room, they both simultaneously let out a long breath of a sigh and put their head in their hands.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Things continued in that vein for several days. Both of them were both too scared to just admit what they wanted. Suggestive, flirtatious conversations and shared meals and meaningful looks came and went and they were both _incredibly_ on edge.

They'd found Rose a job at a local vintage clothes shop, and so she was out during the days while he did all sorts of things, like make plans of how to get the TARDIS back, explore the local area, make cheese on toast and almost burn the kitchen down, watch TV and get bored...but mostly he just went and sat in the shop with her to keep her company on her solo shift work. Which they both preferred to being apart.

...

_A little over a week since they arrived on Kalo..._

"You could get a job too, you know," she said to him one day at work as she sorted through the till. "That'd keep you occupied."

"Nah," he dismissed quietly. "Don't want to hang around other people who I don't even know. How boring would that be? No, it's much better that I stay here and pester you."

Rose smiled to herself, "Okay."

The Doctor was sitting on the counter next to where she stood, swinging his legs back and forth like an excited little boy. "It's good that you don't get many customers, isn't it?" he said conversationally. _Hardly any interruptions. We get to sit here and talk for hours and I think you love it as much as I do, _he thought to himself.

She raised an eyebrow. "For us, maybe. Not for Maureen. Then again, I think she's rich enough as it is. And she never comes in here to see how I'm doing. I could be ruining her shop for all she knows."

"I s'pose this bit of the town's quite secluded. Many people probably don't know about this quaint little store. You should advertise."

"No I'm quite content with just a few customers a day," Rose shook her head. '_Cos we get to spend time together that way. Whilst earning money at the same time. Pretty lucky, if you ask me, _she thought.

"There's some nice stuff here," he said then. "When we get the TARDIS back, you should pop in here and grab some stuff, and we can go back and visit each time and place it's from."

Rose grinned. "Sounds like a plan." She moved around the counter, doing a bit of tidying up as she started to speak, trying to appear nonchalant, "It's funny, isn't it..."

"What's that?" he prompted.

"Well, me and you, we've...it's like, a little while ago, we had a conversation on an impossible planet and you were terrified of it. I mentioned living together in a house and you were all wide-eyed and petrified."

"Ah," he said, his mouth suddenly dry. He tried to rationalise it, "Well, that's because I thought we'd lost the TARDIS forever. Now I know we are going to get her back at some point."

"Oh," she replied, deflated. "Well, yeah, I s'pose you're right."

"But I wasn't...I wasn't, strictly speaking, averse to your suggestion, back then. Not at all, actually," he admitted, twiddling his thumbs in a nervous gesture.

Rose paused, her hands hovering over a clothing rack. "No?"

"Course not. I sort of thought it would be a given. I mean, we've lived together in the TARDIS for so long, so..." he trailed off, rubbing his neck awkwardly. _And living in a tiny flat hasn't been half so bad as people would think. In fact, I quite like it. With you._

"Right. Yeah, of course," she said, resuming her task.

"Will you want to settle down at some point?" he asked her suddenly. Dreading her response. _But of course she will. She's human. She's a woman. At some point she's gonna want all that stuff...a family, a husband. And she'll leave me for it._

_Only if it's with you, _she thought but didn't say. "No," she replied easily. "I'm staying with you for the rest of my life, remember."

His hearts clenched at her words. "Yeah, I hope so."

She turned and faced him. "I mean it, Doctor. I'm not gonna leave you. Not ever."

Their eyes locked and he saw the truth of her words in her eyes. "Good." There was a pause. Then, "You know, I could..." he began, then trailed off. _I could try it. I could be all that. Just once. For her. I could be a husband and a dad again and live like we've been living. I could do it. If she wanted._ _I really, really could. _He stared at her, then cleared his throat. _That's in the future. She isn't ready for all that yet anyway. She's just twenty. Plenty of time for all that. _"I could help you with that, if you want," he finished, gesturing to the pile of clothes she was in the process of hanging up.

"No, it's alright. I'm a bit hungry, why don't you go and get us some lunch?" she requested nicely.

"Yeah, okay," he agreed, jumping off the counter. "Anything in particular you'd like?"

"Surprise me," she grinned, tongue between teeth.

"Right-o!" he grinned back. And then he was gone.

Rose slumped against the table behind her and sighed. _How the hell am I ever going to be able to tell what he's thinking? He's so...ambiguous. His words, they...they...do they ever __mean __something?_

She rolled her eyes at herself. _God, _she thought._ Course they don't. Stop getting your hopes up._

...

Later, once they'd eaten their banana and sugar sandwiches and drank their flask of tea, Rose closed up the shop a little early, and they walked home arm-in-arm and in silence, just like they had for the past several days.

When they arrived back, Rose dragged him over to the sofa and sat them both down.

"Listen, I need to ask you something," she began, trying to get her breathing under control.

"Yeah? What is it?" he asked, concerned at how nervous she seemed. "Something wrong?"

"Yes. Well, no. But yes. Sort of. See, the thing is - "

The doorbell rang, then, cutting her off.

She sighed and got up to get the door. He caught her hand as she stood and mumbled, "Just leave it."

But she was insistent that that would be rude, and answered the door anyway.

_Oh great. Just great, _she thought, confronted by the sight of Daniel. "Hi," she greeted pleasantly.

"Hello, Rose," he replied, throwing her wink.

Behind her, she heard the Doctor groan, and she muffled her giggle with the back of her hand. "Everything alright?"

"Yep, yes. I just wondered if you fancied coming down the pub for a few drinks tonight? A group of us are going," he offered, his eyes lit up with hope.

"Oh, um..." Rose began, about to say a polite 'no thanks.'

But the Doctor came bounding up behind her. "Yes, that'd be lovely, we'd love to come, wouldn't we, darling?" he said, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, er, actually - " Daniel stuttered.

The Doctor shot him his Oncoming Storm Look once more.

"I mean, yes, of course. Great. See you um, see you _both_ at the pub on the corner at half-seven then, yeah?" Daniel said.

"Sounds good," put in Rose, smiling warmly. "See you then."

She closed the door and turned to face the Doctor. "The pub? With Daniel and his mates? _Seriously?"_

He shrugged. "Might be fun."

"Well, you can't wear that," she said.

He looked down at himself. "Why not?" he squeaked.

"It's seriously dirty, that suit. I don't mind, but going out in the evening in public? You ought to make a bit of an effort."

"It's just the pub!" he exclaimed defiantly.

"Look, take it off and shove it in the washing machine. I'll sort it out in a minute. I'm just gonna decide what I'm wearing. We'll wash the suit and - "

" – and there is now way it'll be dry in time for half-seven," the Doctor finished.

"Well, then you might just have to wear your boxers, mightn't you?" she grinned. "Doctor, there's also a tumble dryer," she said then, suppressing a giggle at his horrified expression. "We can dry it in that, okay?"

"Okay," he grumbled, wondering just how it was that she managed to tell him what to do and make him do it without much resistance from him at all. _Oh yeah, _he realised. _It's 'cos she's lovely._

...

_Just ten minutes later..._

"Rosie-Ro-oose!" he called in a singsong voice.

"You call me Rosie-Ro-oose one more time - " she began to grumble disdainfully as she walked out of the bathroom. But then she stopped, mid-sentence. There, sitting on her bed, was the Doctor. Dressed in his boxer shorts. _Just_ his boxer shorts.

She bit her lip.

_Jesus, he's beautiful._

"So, you see, Rose. Funny story," he began, smiling sheepishly. "Tried to use the washing machine. In hindsight, I can see that that was a _bit _of a mistake..." he trailed off, noticing her intent gaze on what was decidedly not his face.

_He's so skinny...who knew that he'd have such a nice torso? That flat, sort of defined stomach...those arms...god, his chest! And those hips, they are just -_

He cleared his throat purposefully, and she looked up at his face abruptly, trying and failing not to blush. "Sorry, yeah. You were saying something about washing machines, right?"

"Right," he confirmed, hiding a grin. Then, in a rush, he told her, "So, I sort of blewituptandfloodedtheflat. See. Funny, right?" He laughed nervously, hoping his lack of clothes would sway her mind into deciding _not _to kill him. And possibly to just jump on him and sh – _no. No, no. No. I did __not__ just think that. Oh no._

"You blew it up?" _I __told__ him to wait for me._

He nodded, swallowing thickly.

"And now, if I open that door, I'll see a flooded kitchen and sitting room?" _Bloody hell. The things he does..._

"Yes," he replied meekly, wincing as she strode over to the door, and opened it swiftly to clarify the extent of the situation.

She closed it again, and shot him a death-glare. "So, you're going to clean it up, right?" she asked him, her tone dangerously like a warning. Or a threat.

The Doctor gulped. "Yes. Yes, of course I will."

"Good," she replied, breathing out shakily. "Then it's all okay. We can get a new one tomorrow."

_Wow. Look at that, she's so calm and not killing me. Today is a good day. I knew the boxer shorts and nothing else thing would work._

"So...you're not going to kick me out?" he asked.

"Nope," she assured him, giving him a small smile.

_Not when you look like __that __underneath your clothes. I would seriously like to run my hands all over you right now and – oh. My. God. I didn't just think that. stop it. stop thinking that, stupid brain. keep your eyes __off __his crotch. There we go. Think pure thoughts._

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, jumping up.

"Um, Doctor, one question," she said blocking his path out of the room. She gave into herself a little and pressed her hand against his bare chest to emphasise the fact that she was stopping him moving. She swallowed hard and pretended not to notice the electricity running up her arm and into her body at just touching him. "Is your suit okay? Did it survive, or are you going to be wandering around in your boxers all the time?" _because I might seriously have an aneurism if you do. Either that, or ruin our friendship forever and simply jump you and beg you to sh – no. No, no. Not that._

"Weeelll," he drawled. _Now, do I tell her the truth? That my suit is fine, just a little wet right now? Or do I ditch the suit and pretend it's dead, and walk around in my boxer shorts forever? Because seriously, if she's going to continue to do things like touch my bare chest, I quite like going around with hardly any clothes on...now, if she'd only just trail her hand down, let it wander a bit furth – no, what? What am I __thinking?__ "_The suit's fine. Too wet to wear at the mo, though," he admitted. _And did I not mention, the tumble dryer is also broken. Nothing to do with me, though, that...not much, anyway. Ahem._

"Oh," she mumbled, and was it just him or did she sound a little disappointed? "Well, that's good, I s'pose." _Not._

"Hmm," he agreed, sort of. _Not._

"Well, you best get started sorting it all out, then," she said. _Or you could just kiss me and shove me against the bedroom door._

"Yeah, I better," he replied. _Or I could just kiss you and shove you against the bedroom door._

Neither of them moved.

Then, abruptly, as if she'd suddenly been burned, Rose took her hand away from his chest, and moved aside to let him open the door.

He leant forwards a little after she'd removed her hand, as if seeking it out again, then hurriedly rocked back on his heels. "Right-o. Won't take too long," he informed her pleasantly, before giving her a warm grin and bounding out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

"Bloody hell," she said to herself, sinking to the floor in a heap. _This is getting ridiculous. _

The other side of the door, the Doctor leant against it, breathing heavily. _She is insanely too capable of restraining herself, _he thought. Unless she really was that unaffected by the sight of him in his boxers. Because truth be told, he really had expected at least a snog just then.

He grimaced a bit as he walked through the puddles on the floor. And then he thought,

_Bugger. What if she didn't like what she saw? Damn, I knew I was too skinny this time around. _

He huffed to himself.

_Bet It next door has a better build. She'd like him. No, wait, what? No, she wouldn't, he's a creep. An idiot. A complete nincompoop. No way would she prefer him to me, what am I thinking? But then...well, she hadn't exactly – hang on. No. No, she wasn't supposed to do anything. She __isn't__ supposed to be doing anything. She's just my (extremelybeautifulwomanIlove) friend. She's just my...friend. Yes. That's right._

He surveyed the sight before him.

_Oh, bollocks, what a bloody mess. I knew I should've asked her what button to press. Ooh, that rhymes. I should become a poet. Hmmm..._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Rose came back out of the bedroom, all dressed up and ready to go out, and found the flat completely clean and tidy.

_Wow, _she thought to herself. _I'm impressed._

She looked around for the Doctor, but she couldn't see him. "Doctor?" she called out, confused.

She heard a mumbled response coming from behind the sofa, and found him lying on the floor, face-down, apparently asleep. He was still in his boxer shorts.

Rose cleared her throat and knelt down next to him, prodding him lightly in the back. "Doctor? Wakey-wakey. Time to get your clothes back on. We're going to the pub, remember?"

He stirred a bit, but was evidently still asleep.

She trailed a finger down his spine experimentally, and was delighted when he shivered beneath her touch. Smothering a laugh, she leant forward and again whispered, "Doctor," before blowing in his ear.

He sat up so fast that she had to reel back quickly rather than get whacked in the face. "_Rassilon, _Rose! You scared the life out of me!" he exclaimed, his hand on his chest as he tried to catch his breath.

"Well, what are you doing falling asleep on the floor at this time of day? We're s'posed to be going out," she defended, arms crossed as she stared him down. She narrowed her eyes at him. "And I thought you didn't need much sleep...what the hell do you do at night, anyway?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. _Don't tell her, _he told himself sternly. _Don't tell her you constantly just think about her and you and ifs and buts and maybes and hopefullys..._ He shook his head briefly. "Weellll," he began, and then stopped suddenly when he'd got a good look of her. He swallowed thickly. "You look lovely," he murmured softly.

She was wearing a purple, satiny shirt with black, diamond-shape buttons, and tight black jeans that fitted her perfectly. "Thanks," she grinned. "You too. But I think people might have too much to say about it, so you best get ready."

He looked down at himself, and the tips of his ears went red as he realised he was _still_ sans suit. "Ah. Oh. Right. Hopefully, the suit's dry by now," he said worriedly, jumping to his feet. He held his hand out for her and pulled her up too, his eyes raking over her again as she stood and adjusted herself, pulling down the shirt where it had ridden up slightly to give him a glimpse of toned stomach.

_Blimey, _he thought. _Best get clothed quick, or she might start to notice something, er...well. Biological. Boxer shorts alone are never good at hiding that sort of thing, unfortunately._

"Could you grab me a clean shirt from the wardrobe?" he asked her politely, moving to retrieve his suit from where it was hanging over the radiator.

"Sure," she said. "And a tie?"

"Nah, I won't bother with a tie tonight," he dismissed, starting to pull on his trousers.

"Right," she nodded, grinning to herself and making her way to the bedroom.

When she returned he was standing in the middle of the room patiently, with his trousers, socks and Converses on.

_He looks...oh, _she sighed internally, not even summoning any words to describe how sexy she found he looked right then.

She handed him one of his new shirts – one that she had picked out for him – and he thanked her kindly before putting it on.

_I wish she wouldn't watch me while I'm doing this, _he thought to himself. His hands were shaking – _shaking? Bloody hell! – _and he started doing the buttons up in the wrong order under her intent gaze.

"Here," she laughed, stepping closer. "You've done them up wrong."

He inhaled deeply and held his breath as she proceeded to unbutton and re-button his shirt correctly. Risking a glance down, he saw that her hands were steady. _Damn it._

_I can't believe I'm doing this without shaking, _Rose thought to herself. _I'm getting good at this pretending-I-don't-want-to-kiss-him lark._

"There we go," she murmured softly, purposely leaving the top three buttons undone. She liked the glimpse of neck and chest that doing so provided her with, and mentally patted herself on the back for her initiative.

Her breath ghosted over his neck as she spoke, that's how close she was standing to him, and he longed for his hearts to stop beating so fast. She was _so _going to notice, otherwise. And that would be far too embarrassing for his taste.

He locked gazes with her and said quietly, "Thanks, Rose."

"No problem," she insisted with a smile. She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh, look – it's seven-fifteen. We better get going." _Or we could stay here and have sex if you like, please._ Rose cleared her throat. _Whaaat? Shut up, brain, or I might say something stupid out loud._

"Yeah. We better had," he replied. _Or not. You know, I love this outfit on you, but I bet I'd love it even more __off._The Doctor shook his head at himself. _Stop __it.__ Not possible. Ever. Unless she wants it to...which she probably doesn't. Otherwise she would've told me by now. Knows how to ask for what she wants, does Rose, _he rationalised to himself.

"Let's go, then," she said. _This room is getting far too hot and claustrophobic, in my opinion._

"Yeah, let's go," he agreed. _Some fresh air, that's all I need. That's right. Just need to breathe, that's all._

And not a moment later, they were on their way to the pub. And they both pretended that the tingling sensation flowing through their bodies from where their hands were fused together tightly didn't exist.

...

"Rose!" Daniel greeted happily when they entered the pub. "How great you made it! And John, you too," he enthused, somewhat falsely in the case of the latter.

"Hi," replied the Doctor and Rose in unison, seating themselves on the empty bar stools next to Daniel and his friends.

"This is Alan, Jill, Joe and Freddie," Daniel introduced, gesturing to each person in turn.

"Alright Rose? We've heard a lot about you," Alan smirked with a wink.

"Don't mind him," Jill said, shaking her head despairingly. "It's really lovely to meet you."

"You too," smiled Rose.

"And that - that's _Selena_," continued Daniel.

Rose turned around to see who he was pointing at. The woman entering the pub at that moment was tall, raven-haired, with big, green eyes and a beautiful smile and gorgeous legs that went on forever under her short black dress.

Rose instantly hated her.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted cheerfully. "Nice to meet you."

Rose scowled. She hated him, too. _Why does he always have to be so bloody nice to the attractive women?_

"Nice to meet _you,_" Selena replied, eying him and down in obvious appreciation.

Daniel smirked. Rose glared. The Doctor seemed oblivious and just smiled at her in a friendly fashion. The other four members of the party were already too tipsy to notice or care.

"What does everyone want to drink, then?" Daniel asked, watching with delight as Selena sat herself next to the Doctor, her head held high and one leg wrapped over the other to elongate her figure and show off her looks.

Rose's scowl deepened.

"I'll have a sweet martini," drawled Selena, winking at the Doctor.

He raised his eyebrows and just smiled uncertainly in return. "Just a, uh...a pint for me," he requested, turning to Daniel. _Hehe, look at me, ordering a pint! In a pub! No, wait, in our __local!__ Ha, we have a local! How odd, _he thought happily, always enthusiastic about new experiences.

"Rose?" inquired Daniel.

"I'll have dry white wine, please," she answered, smiling sweetly; her jaw clenching in disbelief and no small amount of anger when Selena took it upon herself to rest her hand on the Doctor's thigh.

To Rose's relief, he looked at it in alarm. "Um..."

"So, I haven't seen you before. Where've you been hiding?" she asked, squeezing his leg.

Rose jumped in before he could answer, "With me. In our flat. Where we live. _Together_." She emphasised the last word, trying to get it through to Selena that she had to _Back. Off. _

_If she doesn't I'll chuck this drink over her, _she thought to herself, accepting her glass of wine as she spoke.

_Oh thank goodness, Rose is going to rescue me, _thought the Doctor.

Selena pursed her lips, as if trying not to laugh. "What, like...flat-mates?" she asked the Doctor, running her finger down to his knee and back up his thigh again.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and took a gulp of his beer. Then, he removed Selena's hand. "Husband and wife, actually," he corrected, smiling apologetically.

Rose hid her grin, feeling triumphant.

"Oh," replied Selena, momentarily disappointed. Then she perked up, and Rose realised that just because he was 'married,' it wouldn't dissuade someone like Selena from continuously trying – never mind the fact that she'd only just met him, not a full minute ago, even! Relentless, that was the word. Much like Daniel, really. She couldn't think why they weren't together. "Well. We'll see," she shrugged.

The Doctor frowned, possibly about to contest that, but Rose interrupted whatever he was going to say and pulled him up to dance with her.

"Come on, darling," Rose teased, waggling her eyebrows in a manner that the Doctor found very distracting, if he was being entirely honest with himself. "Dance with your wife," she continued, tongue between teeth. She placed his hands on her hips and wrapped her arms around his neck, and started to sway her hips in what she hoped looked a seductive manner.

His eyes were almost popping out of his sockets but he soon loosened up, and started to dance with her. He watched her as her gaze kept flicking back over to Selena, and realised something.

"You were jealous, weren't you..." he murmured close to her ear as he leant forward.

"What? No, course not," Rose denied.

"You're checking to see if she's watching."

"To see if who's watching?" she replied, playing dumb.

"That woman in the black dress."

"Selena?" she scoffed. "No, I'm not."

"You keep looking at her," he pointed out. "Thus, either you are checking to see if she's watching because you think she fancies me, _or, _you are checking her out because you fancy _her. _Which I don't think is as likely as the first thing," he concluded.

"_Pfft_, like you would even notice," Rose mumbled begrudgingly.

...

_**A/N: Hey everyone :D Sorry this took a while. Hope you enjoyed it, more coming soon xxx**_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey everyone :D Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing this story, I'm glad people are liking it! It's certainly fun to write ;) Anyways, hope you like this next installment... xxx**

**Chapter 14**

Some time later, Rose unfortunately and inexplicably found herself sat next to a very open, brazen Selena who was informing her of all her conquests, whilst the Doctor was out somewhere on the dancefloor showing everyone the conga. Rose wished desperately that she could join in, instead of listening to Selena going on and on and on and on and on...

"You've got awfully loose morals for a town like this," Rose muttered. "All those rules and all that stigma about sex before marriage and that, and you – you're having it off with a new man every week!"

"Yes, well," began Selena, leaning forward conspiratorially. "It helps that I'm so alluring. The officials have such repressed sexual desires that are just _waiting _to surface. And when they do...I'm there," she grinned.

Rose grinned back, feigning admiration, but really, just feeling depressed at the entire situation. "So, you know you're a slut, and you're proud of it?" she asked sweetly.

Selena nodded. "That's right. Life is for living, darling!"

"Wow," murmured Rose, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"And you know what else?" She leaned even closer to whisper in Rose's ear. "I _always _get what I want." As she pulled back, her gaze flickered over to the Doctor, and Rose visibly bristled.

"Not this time," she assured her.

Selena kept her eyes locked on the Doctor's bottom, and Rose grew increasingly unsettled. "He's a man, darling. And all men succumb to Selena's seduction."

_Oh blimey, now she's referring to herself in third person! How self-absorbed can you __get? _"Not him," Rose said. "He's different."

"Oh, really?" was Selena's dubious reply.

"Yes. _Really," _she bit out through gritted teeth.

"How long have you been married? A year?"

Momentarily taken aback by the question, Rose found herself saying, "Yeah, it's our first anniversary next week." _What? Where did that come from? _she thought to herself.

"And you think that after just a year of marriage, you're still in the honeymoon phase, hmm?"

She shrugged non-committally, and out of the corner of her eye saw Jill sit down at their table to listen in on the conversation.

"But let me tell you, sweetheart. Even pretty young blondes like you aren't enough for a man. Sooner or later, your John will get tired of the girl-next-door look, and find himself enticed in by a _woman._"

Rose raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, but I think you're taking this too far. I know you've been drinking, but I don't appreciate you talking to me like this," she said. _I __am__ a woman, bitch._

Selena shrugged, and met Freddie's gaze. "Wanna dance?" she asked him.

His eyes lit up, and Rose inwardly cringed at the man's blatant adoration for such a vile woman. Yeah, she was beautiful, super-model style, but _seriously? _She was a right cow. Why couldn't this guy, or any of the others she'd been with, see that?

"Don't worry, honey," murmured a voice from next to her. Rose jumped, and realised it was Jill talking to her. She gave her a small smile. "Selena's like that all the time." She sighed. "Look at him, getting all googley-eyed whenever she shows him attention. _I _show him attention and I barely get a smile from the man."

Rose glanced between Freddie and Selena and Jill, seeing how sad she looked. "You like him?"

"I love him," confessed Jill. She shook her head. "It's not gonna happen, though. Never get a look in, do I, with her around. She's supposed to be my friend, but all she cares about it getting a man's – well, _every_ man's – attention. Which leaves me as the ugly duckling, don't it?"

Rose smiled at her sympathetically. "She's a cow. You're lovely. You'll find someone who can see that. Don't waste your time on Freddie, he's an idiot if he doesn't see how beautiful you are." _'Cos she is, _thought Rose. _Honey-coloured hair and bright blue eyes. Sure, the nose is a bit out of proportion, but who's perfect? Well, Selena, I s'pose...but then she's horrible on the inside. Jill seems nice. Freddie's a prick if he can't see that._

"Thanks," Jill smiled graciously. She bumped her shoulder against Rose's, a wistful look on her face as she spoke of romance - "And listen, your bloke can hardly keep his eyes off you. And I dunno if you notice this, but he's always reaching his hand out to take yours, and his fingers flex a little when they're not all interlaced with yours, as if he don't know what to do. And every time you lean slightly away, he leans with you, like you're his force of gravity or something. So you have nothing to worry about with Selena. He's completely yours. It's so sweet. I can't wait 'til I have that with someone..."

Rose sat still, staring at her with wide eyes and her mouth hanging slightly open. "Um. Right. Thanks. That's very...uh, observant...of you?" she stammered uncertainly, confusion washing over her. _What? Is she taking the mick, or has she really noticed that? Or is it just that she's drunk a lot of alcohol tonight? _"Are you sure?" Rose asked hurriedly.

Jill grinned. "Of course I am! Whatever Selena reckons, anyone can see he adores you."

_He...adores me? _Rose gulped. "Oh."

"Hey, don't blush about it!" Jill laughed. "He's your husband, he's allowed to adore you!"

Rose smiled weakly, feeling like she was going to faint. "Mmm." _He adores me? He __adores __me? He doesn't adore me. Does he adore me?_

"Hey girls," said Daniel, cutting into her thoughts. He sat down next to Rose.

Rose blinked, then looked round for the Doctor, not spotting him anywhere. She turned back to Daniel. "Hi. Where's the – John? Where's John?"

"Oh, he's just nipped to the men's room," replied Daniel. "Fancy a dance?"

"What? Oh, sorry - no, thanks. Jill, you dance with him," Rose said distractedly, craning her neck to see where the toilets were. _I have to talk to him. Now. Right. Now. Before I lose my nerve._

"No fear! I've had far too much to drink, I'll only fall over and embarrass myself," refused Jill.

"Well, that does it," said Daniel, yanking Rose up by the arm. "You'll have to dance with me. Come on, just one!"

Rose tried to pull away. "No, no...I can't, I've got to - "

" – nonsense! Come on, Rose. Live a little!" he chided, dragging her out onto the dancefloor. He wrapped his arms around her and started swaying her around.

Reluctant at first, Rose leaned as far away from him as she could in his firm hold. "I'm not really in the mood for this," she said apologetically.

"Sure you are!" he dismissed, pulling her closer. "Just let the music relax you!"

_It is quite a nice song, _pondered Rose. She allowed Daniel to swing her this way and that, getting lost in the melody and her thoughts of the Doctor.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had been intercepted on his way back from the toilet by Selena. He was rounding the corner to go back into the bar, when...

"Hello, honey," she drawled, popping up from nowhere and blocking his path.

The Doctor reeled backwards a bit, his back hitting the wall behind him, alarmed by the way she was trying to press herself up against him. "Er...hi?"

"So, it seems to me that you're in need of a bit of Selena's attention," she told him, eyes alight with desire and hands gripping his lapels.

_What the hell? _he thought. _Talking about herself in the third person? Seriously? _He cleared his throat, and tried to move past her. "Um, no thanks."

"Are you sure?" she asked, pushing him backwards into the wall. She pushed her knee in between his legs and up.

The Doctor remained unaffected by her attempts. "Selena, look. You've got to stop this." _If Rose sees...oh rassilon, if Rose sees this she's going to come to the wrong conclusions..._ "Get off me, please. Now," he said, more firmly, his hands on her shoulders.

"Why? I know you want this really," she said, her voice slightly slurring certain words. "You're just too good at controlling yourself. You want this really. With me."

It made him feel slightly sick. "I really, really don't. I don't know what gave you that impression," he said, wincing when she leaned closer, her drunken breath washing across his neck.

"I can see it in your eyes. The repressed - " she leant in closer and whispered, "- _desire_."

"Yeah, not for _you," _he exclaimed. "Please just leave me alone." _Bloody hell. Won't this woman take the hint? This is not at all a nice experience. Does she think she's good at seducing people or something? Does this work on other people? 'Cos this surely isn't the way to go about it. She needs to be Rose, for starters._

Selena scowled, letting him go a little. "What is your problem?" she asked hotly.

"What's _your _problem?" he retorted. "Honestly, you can't just pounce on me like that. I'm _married." Sort of. _"And even if I weren't, I wouldn't want, uh, _that, _with you. Ever. So back off, yeah?"

She took a step back away from him, highly irritated that she hadn't had her desired effect on him. "Well, you don't know what you're missing," she seethed.

"I don't really care, to be honest," he informed her seriously.

Selena rolled her eyes. "Well. If you ever get bored of _Rose, _then here's my number." She shoved a card in his hand and walked away.

The Doctor's eyes widened. _Seriously? She's giving me her __number?__ Does she have no dignity? _He stared at the card in his hand, and then carelessly threw it over his shoulder as he pushed away from the wall.

He went up to the bar and ordered a bottle of beer. _Ha. Look at this, _he thought to himself. _Me, in a pub, drinking beer, fighting off women. I can safely say this has never happened before._ He took his drink and swigged it slowly, turning around and leaning against the bar, facing the dancefloor. _Now all I need to do is find Rose and tell her that it's her I – _

_Oh._

His stomach dropped.

He watched her as she danced with It. Her hair flinging from side to side as she laughed giddily. It span her around and she stumbled into his arms.

"You alright, mate?" said Alan, coming to said next to him. He ordered himself a whiskey and looked at the Doctor strangely. "You're holding that bottle awfully tight."

The Doctor blinked, and glanced down at his hand; saw that his knuckles had turned white. "Oh," he mumbled. He put the bottle on the bar and folded his arms.

"What's up?" Alan pressed, following the Doctor's gaze. "Oh, are you a bit tetchy about that?"

"About what?" he replied absently.

"About your missus dancing with Dan."

The Doctor looked at him sharply. "No, why would I be?" _Yes. Of course I am. Are you an idiot?_

"You've got nothing to worry about, mate. He dragged her up there while you were in the loo."

"Yes. Well, she seems to be enjoying herself," the Doctor replied tightly.

"God, Joe was right," Alan said, shaking his head in amusement.

"What?"

"He said that you two were way too possessive of each other."

"I'm not possessive over her," he denied vehemently. _Hang on. Is she possessive over me?_

"Yeah, you are. Look how jealous you're getting just over some other bloke dancing with her for a bit. No one would think you'd been married for a year, the way you two are. You'd think you don't know where you stand with her or something."

The Doctor sighed. _Oh how so very true. _"Well. I just...I suppose...I...weeelll, I just..."

Alan rolled his eyes. "She looks at you like...well, I don't even know what like, but I'd love for a girl to look at me that way."

"You think?" the Doctor asked curiously, trying and failing to sound casual. _Really? Really? __Really?_

"Yep. You ought to know that, you're her husband!" Alan laughed.

"Mmm," he replied, his pulse racing.

"So, has Selena tried it on, yet?" Alan asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, she did. Is she insane?"

"Nah, just presumptuous. She bet me and Jill twenty quid each that she'd get at least a snog out of you before the end of the night. But we reckoned you'd be saving your snogging 'til you and wifey got home."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Right." _Hopefully..._

"What did you say to her?"

"Who?"

"Selena."

"Oh. Just that whatever she was trying to do wasn't and would never work."

"Good on ya, mate. She needed taking down a peg or two. Bless Freddie, he's completely besotted with her. But I dunno...it's never worked on me. She's a bitch, really."

The Doctor smiled, relieved that Alan wasn't a complete idiot like Freddie seemed to be. "So, have you got someone?" he asked. _Ha. Look at me. In a pub, drinking beer and talking about women with a bloke. How very strange. It's quite enjoyable, really._

"Nah," he dismissed, shaking his head. "I..."

"What?" the Doctor prompted. He looked up to follow Alan's line of sight. "_Oh._ You like Jill, huh?"

Alan coughed awkwardly. "Um. Well. A bit, I s'pose. Yeah." He sighed wistfully. "But I think she prefers that prick," he said ruefully, nodding towards Freddie.

"Ah, you never know. Maybe things'll work out and everyone'll get who they deserve. Isn't that what normally happens?"

"Not really, no. We don't all get our fairytale ending like you and Rose," Alan murmured sadly.

The Doctor cleared his throat, briefly embarrassed. "Well. I'm sure in time she'll see sense and go for the one who really likes her." _Ha! Me, giving girl advice! Look at this! Weird..._

"Thanks," he replied warmly. "I hope so."

"What about Joe? What's his story?"

"Joe's...well, he's a bit of a loner. Don't seem to be interested in that sort of thing. Doesn't see the point. Can't be bothered with it."

"Ah, well he's just not met her yet. Or him; whichever," he shrugged.

"Who?" asked Alan curiously.

"Whoever it is that's going to change his mind. 'Cos I used to be like him, 'til I met..." he trailed off, realising what he was saying.

"Rose," Alan finished knowingly. "Well, I'll tell him that, then. Might cheer him up a bit," he laughed.

"Mmm."

"Go get her," Alan said then, tilting his glass in the direction of Rose and Daniel, before walking away.

The Doctor stood up straight and cleared his throat. _Right then. I will._


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: 100 reviews? Hehe! I'm so grateful and happy :D Thanks my dears. Here's another chapter, nice and long, seeing as you are all so amazing at reading this. Hope you like! Laura xxx**

**Chapter 15**

He strode across the dancefloor to where Rose was, and grasped her hand tightly in his when Daniel let go for a brief moment.

"May I cut in? Yeah, thought so," he said, twirling her into his arms.

Rose gasped in surprise, then started giggling. Daniel grumpily muttered something and then wandered off in search of another young girl to dance with, highly put out at losing his partner.

"Wow, hello. Finally come to dance with me again, then?" Rose laughed.

"Yep," he agreed, pulling her close. "Can't have It commanding all your attention, can I, Mrs Smith?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, no, Mr Smith," she replied mock-seriously. "Can't have that."

The Doctor smiled down at her, rocking them both back and forth to the music and laughing softly when she kept stumbling. "You a bit tipsy, Rose?"

"Maybe just a bit," she agreed, grinning at him teasingly. _Or a lot, _she reconsidered in her head, feeling slightly woozy. "I had to drink a lot to deal with Selena droning on and on and on. Make sure you don't take advantage."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said, waggling his eyebrows. _I am such a liar._

"You're such a liar," she teased. "You did dream of it, remember?" She trailed a hand down his chest lightly. "That's why you sleep on the sofa. You're scared of doing that again if you're in the same bed as me for too long."

_She must be drunk, if she's talking like this. A sober Rose would keep this sort of thinking to herself... _"Oh, really?" he replied, as thrilled as he was scared with this turn of the conversation.

"You know it's true. Admit it..."

"Okay," he smiled. "I admit it. It's true." _What? Why'd I go and say that for!_

_What? Really? Did he just admit that? _"Huh. Um. Yeah. See," she stuttered awkwardly, staring at his neck.

He cleared his throat and leaned forward. "So, how long do you want to stay here for? 'Cos I just had an experience with Selena that I don't particularly what a repeat of, but she doesn't seem to get that, and I'm slightly worried that she'll try it on again."

He felt Rose stiffen at his words and grinned to himself. _Oh, she's definitely jealous._

"Right," Rose managed to say, teeth clenched together tightly. "P'raps we'd better go, then."

"P'raps we'd better," he agreed. She pulled back and he gave her a warm smile. "Can't have you stumbling all over the place too late at night."

"What is the time, by the way?" she asked, suddenly curious.

The Doctor lifted their joined hands to check his watch. "Ten past midnight. Lucky you've got a day off work tomorrow, you're gonna have a bit of a hangover, I reckon."

"I'll be fine," she dismissed. "Come on, let's say our goodbyes and get home."

They walked over to where the others had congregated around a table in the far corner of the room.

"Ah, John, Rose, come and join us, we're doing shots!" cried Freddie cheerfully, bouncing Selena up and down on his knee.

"Actually, we're gonna get going," Rose apologised, reaching for her jacket. Before she could grab it, Daniel had playfully snatched it away from her.

"Nonsense, come on," Daniel said.

"We're gonna play 'I Never,'" put in Alan.

"And we know hardly anything about you, so 'tis the perfect game to get to know our new friends!" cried Jill joyfully.

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look, pursing their lips together to keep from laughing.

_Cor, they'd choke on their vodka if they found out who we really are, _thought Rose. She felt the Doctor tugging her by the hand to sit down. _What. We have to stay? Oh, bloody hell._

"Might be fun, Rose Tyler," he whispered in her ear as they sat down. He flung his arm around her and drew her in close to his side.

"Embarrassing, more like," she whispered back. _If I let something slip...mind you, I am drunk. They'll just think I'm being daft. I wonder if I can reveal that he's an alien and see what they say..._

"I've never...crashed a hovercraft," said Jill, looking pointedly at Alan, who took a shot.

"Does a spaceship count?" murmured Rose to the Doctor under her breath.

"Hey! I don't crash," he defended, squeezing her shoulder.

"You so do."

"I've never...been to Kalo's Greatest Zoo," said Joe. His friends all gasped in horror.

"How can you not have been to the Zoo?" questioned Freddie in alarm. "We are taking you there tomorrow, that's decided!"

"There's a Zoo?" piped up the Doctor enthusiastically.

Rose sighed. _Please don't get us invited along to the zoo with them, _she thought.

"Yeah! It's the best zoo ever," said Freddie, nodding frantically. "You can come with us!"

The Doctor glanced at Rose, who sent him a _don't you dare _look. _I'd rather it just be us two, _she tried to tell him with her eyes.

"No, it's okay. We'll check it out another time, thanks." He felt her relax against him, and wondered why she didn't want to go out again with their new friends. _Mind you, _he realised, _at least this means I can take her there, just the two of us, which would be more like a...a...date..._

"Suit yourself," grumbled Freddie. Then he perked up. "I've never...been to a strip club!"

"Pfft, yeah right!" laughed Alan, taking a shot. "You must've!"

"I haven't!" Freddie insisted. "I genuinely haven't!"

"And you're having a go at me for not having gone to the Zoo!" laughed Joe, also drinking a shot.

"Um, Rose," muttered the Doctor.

"Yep," she said, putting her glass back on the table.

His eyebrows rose to his hairline. "You've been to a strip club? You? As in..._you_. Rose Marion Tyler. My Rose. Has been. To a...strip club?" he clarified slowly.

"Yep," she grinned, tongue between teeth. '_My Rose?' Oh blimey, I think I might snog him any second..._

"_When?_" he asked, baffled...and unable to tell whether she was just pretending to get a reaction out of him or not. If she was, it was certainly working.

"Before I met you," she laughed.

"But, you were barely _nineteen _when you met me!"

"So?" she countered.

The Doctor just shook his head in amazement. Then he tilted his head, pensive. "Male or female strip club?"

"Aren't you going to drink?" she asked him, avoiding the question.

"No," he said simply.

"Nine hundred years of time and space, and you've never been to a strip club?" she asked dubiously.

"Nope," he answered, popping the 'p.' He looked positively pleased with himself.

"Wow, you're really not a normal bloke, are you?" she giggled.

"Nah, I'm so much better," he replied, his voice dropping to a whisper.

She shivered, and snuggled into him closer. _Got that right, _she thought.

"I've never...kissed a member of the same sex," said Selena, winking at Joe, who blushed crimson.

"Something you want to tell us, Joe?" laughed Alan.

Rose took a shot. "Nothing to be ashamed of, Joe," she smiled, shaking her head at the taste. She'd had far too many of these tonight, and she was starting to feel a little queasy.

The Doctor's eyes were almost bugging out of their sockets. "Rose. Another question. _What?"_

She shrugged, fighting back a laugh. "Snogged Shareen once," she said, like it was no big deal.

"You..." he faltered, squeezing his eyes shut in disbelief. Again, he couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Maybe she was just saying it to save Joe some embarrassment. But if it was true... _Blimey. And this was all before she'd ever met bloody Captain Jack Harkness. I thought she was an innocent young girl! (which sounds a bit perverted, considering I took her away from home) Huh. Well, anyway. Learn something new everyday..._

"You have to drink, too – Jack kissed you, remember?" Rose pointed out.

"Yeah, but I didn't kiss _him," _he countered, belatedly opening his eyes again.

"Your turn, John," Selena said, her eyes glittering.

The Doctor looked startled. "Oh. Right. Um...well."

He looked at Rose. _I've never told Rose Tyler I love her._

"Uh...hmmm..." he stalled for time, trying to think of something to say.

_I've never kissed Rose Tyler in the starlight. _

"I can't think of anything, um..." He looked around the room, grappling for inspiration, but only seeing Rose.

_I've never made love to Rose Tyler._

"He's lived such a long time he's done everything," giggled Rose. _Well, apart from the strip club and kissing another man thing, _she amended in her head. She elbowed him in the chest. "Bet you've never eaten Shoe Polish Curry, though, eh?"

"Ah!" _thank the gods for Rose Tyler. _"I've never eaten Shoe Polish Curry."

The others look bemused, especially when Rose drank a shot. "Right, my turn is it?" she asked. Jill nodded. "Hmm..."

She looked at the Doctor, her eyes alight with mischief and drunkenness, and kept their gazes locked as she said, "I've never had sex al fresco." _That's gonna catch him off-guard, _she thought wickedly.

She suppressed a grin when the Doctor's eyes widened.

His mouth went dry. _Oh dear. She's – she – oh, we so have to do that._

"Aw, John, you should try it – it's fantastic!" giggled Selena, the only one taking a shot.

"Just not 'round here. It's against the law, after all," pointed out Jill pragmatically. "And 'round here it's very strict."

"Mm, I was thinking more...applegrass," said Rose innocently, and the Doctor let out a choked groan.

"Applegrass? Is there such thing?" asked Alan curiously.

"Oh yeah," replied Rose, her eyes glazing over in memory.

"Right!" announced the Doctor abruptly. "We ought to be off now, it's getting late."

_Yes, _thought Rose, _that worked. _"Fine by me," she mumbled, standing up and putting her jacket on. "Right, ta for a lovely evening. See you all soon," she said cheerily, nodding to them all.

Alan smirked. "Have a nice rest of your night."

"Oh, we will," Rose grinned, winking saucily. She was delighted when Selena scowled.

The Doctor smiled hesitantly, mildly embarrassed, and said his goodbyes, before leading Rose out of the pub with a hand resting in the small of her back. Just to keep her steady, you understand.

"You're such a tease," he murmured when they got outside.

"Who says I'm teasing?" she retorted, linking her arm with his. She leant against him for support, her legs a bit doddery due to the alcohol.

"Weeelll." He swallowed thickly. _When we get the TARDIS back, I'm taking you straight back to New Earth so you can prove that to me, _he thought.

"Oh, look at the stars, Doctor! They're so bright, tonight! You know, it's been so cloudy since we've been here, I swear I haven't seen them at all!"

He looked up. "Yeah," he said softly. "It'll be nice to get back up there, won't it?"

"Definitely," she grinned, excited. "It won't take us too long, now. My wages are coming in nice and fast. Should only have to work there about a month more and we'll be able to pay the fine off, yeah?"

"Yeah," he agreed, looking down at her proudly. "Thank you, by the way. I don't think I've said that yet, but I should've. You're the one with the job, after all. So, thank you."

"That's alright," she smiled warmly. "It's a different, slightly slower adventure from normal but it's good, yeah? I'm having fun with it."

"Me too," he chuckled. "Me too."

"And you're going to take me somewhere special as soon as we get her back, right?" she teased.

"Oh, yes. Somewhere very special indeed." _For you. Anywhere. Anything. _

"Doctor," Rose said quietly.

"Yes, Rose?" _Can I kiss you in the starlight?_

"I just want you to know..." she trailed off, biting her lip, unsure.

"Know what?" he asked. His hearts began to pound as they slowed to a stop at the bottom of their block of flats and she just stared at him. "Know what?" he pressed.

"I..." she began. _I...what? _she thought. _I want to kiss you? I want __you__. I love you? All of the above? What do I say?_

He brushed a strand of her hair from out of her eyes tenderly. "You...?" he prompted. _Please let me kiss you._

"I'm drunk," she murmured. She cleared her throat. "But that don't mean that I don't want to do this normally," she said. And then she stood on her tiptoes, grabbed his lapels in her hands for support, and kissed him quickly on the lips.

_Ohhh. This is so the seduction I was waiting for, _thought the Doctor happily, losing himself in her kiss.

Before she could pull back, he had his hands wound into her hair, keeping their lips firmly together. Tentatively, he licked her lower lip, and she opened her mouth beneath his to snog him more thoroughly. Within moments, he'd backed her up against the door to their building, his hands slipping from her hair to grasp her hips and pull them against his as he pushed his body closer to hers.

She looped her arms around his neck to keep him there even as she tore her lips away from his to breathe in shakily. "Doctor," she whispered.

"Rose," he whispered back, his voice low and husky. Their eyes were locked in a fierce, intense gaze and he saw the lust and desire in hers as much as she must've seen so in his.

She started to smile, and he leaned forward to kiss her again. But suddenly, she was shoving at his chest, and he pulled away from her, alarmed and worried as to what he'd done wrong.

"I'm gonna be - " she started to say, but she was cut off speaking when she started to throw up, turning away from him so that he wouldn't have to see.

"Ah," he said, realisation dawning. In an instant, he was at her side again, holding her hair back for her and rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Kissing me really that awful?" he only half-joked.

She shook her head wearily. "Course not. I'm sorry, I - " her sentence stopped again as she continued to be sick.

The Doctor winced. _Not quite the kissing in starlight that I had in mind, _he thought to himself. "It's alright, Rose," he murmured comfortingly. "You'll feel better for it."

She slumped against him after a while. "Think I'm done," she mumbled.

He wrapped his arm around her to help her stand up straight. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."

He helped her walk into the lift. "Doctor, I'm so sorry, I - "

" – shh," he interrupted softly. "Not your fault." He held her against him and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"Well, it sort of is. I shouldn't've drank so much," she muttered into his chest.

He smiled. "Well, when do you ever do what you should, eh?"

_Good point, _she thought, grinning at him lazily.

By the time they'd struggled into the flat, she was half-asleep standing up, so he carefully lifted her into his arms and took her into her bedroom.

"Rose, time for bed," he whispered, shaking her gently as he laid her down on the bed.

"Mmph," she mumbled sleepily, snuggling her face into the pillow.

"Come on, under the covers," he said, trying to pull the duvet over her.

"Pyjamas," she said, stretching her arms and almost knocking him in the face.

"Pyjamas?" he echoed, confused.

She yawned. "Mmm. Need to wear them."

His eyes went wide. "No...no, you just sleep like that, yeah?" _She can't make me undress her. That's not fair. Not like this. She can't make me undress her..._

"'kay," she agreed, falling promptly asleep.

"Oh. Okay." _She didn't make me undress her. Right. Okay. That's...that's good. Yes, what a relief! Ahem..._


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Special thanks to Rosie Cass and DudeYouJustTotallyStoleMyCar for particular suggestions :D They were much appreciated xxx**

_-x-_

**Chapter 16**

Awhile ago, the Doctor made a list. A very specific list. In order to remind himself not to kiss her, even in the most tempting of situations. Recently, he'd been forgetting it. So, all night, that night, after he'd put Rose to bed, he sat down at the kitchen table, searched his memory, and wrote all the reasons down...

_**101 Reasons Not To Kiss Rose Tyler**_

1. I'd possibly have a couple of heart attacks, and then I'll be of no use to anyone, least of all her.

2. I'm a Time Lord.

3. She's human.

4. Too complicated. We've got a good friendship going. Can't complicate that.

5. She deserves better.

6. I might accidently break her heart.

7. She is far too gorgeous for me.

8. It would confuse her, because I don't usually do things like that, thus she might leave.

9. It would confuse me, because I don't usually do things like that, thus I would be embarrassed and she might hate me and she might leave.

10. We're just friends.

11. We _are _just friends. No matter what other people think, we _are. _I can't jeopardise that.

12. She probably doesn't like me in that way. Possibly. Perhaps.

13. I hope she fancies me. No. Wait. What? That's not a reason, er...bit distracted there. There's a cat staring at me through the window. How the hell did it get up here? I think there's a balcony in the flat above, so it probably jumped down from there...but it's right on the ledge, I hope it doesn't fall off...well, I s'pose they have nine lives, so it'll probably be alright. Anyway, I hate cats, so what do I care? Ahem. Er...oh! She likes cats! Cats are not nice. They do all sorts of unpredictable things like chase you in a nun's wimple, and we can't have that.

14. I'm not entirely sure number 13 made sense. Oh well. Next reason...um...she might have a cold! Or a really, _really_ bad cold. Flu! Eugh. Not catching that. Can't risk kissing her then, can I? No, I cannot.

15. It's far too domestic.

16. Hmm, what else...oh. _Oh._ Er...well, she might...she might see me as a father figure, so that could be weird. To say the least.

17. Oh god, I hope she doesn't see me as a father figure. I don't think the thoughts I think about her are appropriate for that...hang on, that stupid cat's still there. Distracting me again. Makes me lose focus, and dwell on things that shouldn't be dwelled on. Where was I? Number 17. Right. Er...she might taste of garlic? Is that a good reason? Well, it'll have to be a good reason. I have to somehow make an entire list, and that reason fits well enough to make up the numbers. Yes. Quite. Garlic. Yuck.

18. If she thinks of me as a father figure, would she have called me _her Doctor_ like she did on the Gamestation? Would she smile and flirt with me the way she does? Would she hold my hand and hug me and...nah. Nah, she can't see me as a father figure. Unless she's a very disturbed young lady. Ah! There we are; another reason – she could be a very disturbed young lady, and she might become even more disturbed if I kissed her.

19. If her mother found out, I'd be slapped into another galaxy. And possibly castrated. Not nice, that thought.

20. Weeelll, her mother is Jackie Tyler. Case in point, really.

21. I wouldn't be surprised if her mother has lots of scary middle-aged women-friends that would all band together and force-feed me aspirin-laced Sheppard's pie or something.

22. Equally, I wouldn't be surprised if her Dad came back from the dead to thump me one. I wouldn't blame him. I'm 901 years old, for Rassilon's sake.

23. Oh. I'm 901 years old. One hell of an age gap.

24. I'm 901 years old, and supposed to be responsible.

25. I'm 901 years old, and not supposed to be thinking about my 20-year old companion in such a way.

26. I'm not a bloody teenager, after all. Since when do Time Lords even think these things anyway?

27. I wouldn't be surprised if all the Time Lords came back from the dead and exiled me for going against all the rules.

28. But then, I don't think I'd really care. If I'm honest. But still. Bad idea. Yes. Quite.

29. Right...um...what else...? You see, thing is, I think kissing her would be quite nice, so it is hard to think of reasons, but...well...I'll like it. S'pose that's a reason in itself. I'll like it.

30. I'll like it A LOT.

31. Then I'll miss it when I can't do it again.

32. Which I will want to do. Kiss her again, I mean.

33. She might hit me. She's Jackie Tyler's daughter, so I think it's possible that I don't want to risk getting slapped by her when she's inherited a lot of her mother's genes.

34. She might kill me. Wouldn't be the first time I've died thanks to kissing her. Don't think I'd really mind all that much, but...well. Er...anyway...um...

35. She might turn evil and use it against me. Okaaaayyy. So, that's not gonna happen, but... I'm scrabbling for reasons already, alright? Not my fault the idea is simply far too appealing for me to think of reasons not to do it!

36. She might like it too much and beg me to do it again. Can't let it happen more than once. Oh no. Once can be labelled as an accident, twice is like deliberately going back for more, which'd open a whole other load of Vrakian worms. Thus, DO NOT kiss her, otherwise she might want to make it a goingbackformore arrangement. And Vrakian worms are _really _annoying; they get in all the nooks and crannies of woodwork and metalwork and...wait, hang on, that's beside the point.

37. She might _not_ like it too much. And then I'll feel really rather rubbish, because I know I _will _like it. And won't that be embarrassing, if I tried to deliberately go back for more, and she rejected me, because one kiss can be passed off as a mistake, and she'll either a) be too surprised to have a go at me for it, or b) forgive me because to her it didn't mean anything. But one kiss would lead to me wanting to do it again, which would lead to Angry Rose. Thus, DO NOT kiss her. Right. Glad that's sorted.

38. I think...um...weeelll, the thing is, I think...I know, really, that er...weeelll...I sort of love her.

39. I'm _in _love with her. A lot. And...and...Well. That reason...it might seem like a paradox, but it's a valid reason, trust me. Because if I kiss her, she'll _know _that I love her, and that'll be awkward. Because right now I'm content with the fact that she does not know, hence I don't have to talk about...feelings and the like. So, if I don't kiss her, she won't find out that I'm completely besotted with her, and everything can carry on as normal. Normal, and safe, and no-feelings-discussed. Perfect.

40. Kissing Rose...weelll...it might make me do other things. Things that are indecent and should not be written down. _Ahem._

41. Sometimes, she eats pears. Don't want to kiss her and taste _that._ Although, she does eat them rather enticingly, and when pear juice drips down her chin it is exceedingly difficult to resist licking it, despite the fact that I _hate _pears. Ergo, maybe this rule is null and void, because I'm pretty damn sure I could put up with the pear-ness, as long as it's combined with Rose...wait, what am I saying? No. Yuck. Pears. Yuck. No. It should definitely stay as a reason. (Mainly because I'm struggling to think of many more and have decided that I really need to get up to 101 because it's such a good number, and really impressive, and if I stopped at 41 I'd look incredibly foolish and weak.)

42. I must not look foolish and weak.

43. When holding her hand, DO NOT kiss her, because that would be completely overstepping the boundary as we are _just friends who happen to hold hands a lot, _and nothing more.

44. When hugging her, DO NOT pull back slightly and kiss her, because she would not appreciate my change of embrace after months of hugging fairly platonically.

45. She's stubborn, and might not let me let her go. Actually, scratch that, that's not a negative. Down to 100 reasons, I suppose.

46. She's so incredibly beautiful. I don't deserve her.

47. She should find someone who deserves her.

48. Nobody deserves her.

49. But she should be happy. She should find someone who can give her all that human stuff that I can't. Like a house and a mortgage and a normal, non-tin dog that has a nose. And marriage. And children. And - oh Rassilon, she better not leave me. What am I going to do when she leaves to have all that? That...that normal life? Without me? How the hell am I going to cope without her? This is so...argh. Frustrating. No, _devastating. _Why does she have to be human? Why does she have to die when she's like, seventy or something? Why can't I be allowed to have her forever? Why should I give her up and let someone else kiss her? Why? _How?_ Why is the universe so unfair? Why did I have to fall in love with her? Why...oh, Rassilon, would you look at that. I'm getting all...angsty and miserable...That bloody cat is _still _bloody there, staring at me again. Where the hell did it even come from, anyway? I didn't even know they had cats on the planet Kalo. Um...anyway, back to my point...what was my point again? Oh, I dunno.

50. Wait, hang on - _I _make her happy. So, really, I should just kiss her and have done with it – no, wait, what? I'm losing the point of this list, hang on...right. Um. No. Hmm. Another reason _not _to, um...bugger, I can't think of anything for number 50. The number 50 is a cursed number on Vadabambooska, you know. So that'll be why. Obviously. Must be.

51. What if she breaks my hearts into millions of teeny, tiny pieces? However would I recover?

52. She is human, and so a consequence of her genetic makeup is that she is programmed to _nag._ Actually, it's just 'cos she's female. _Therefore, _if I kissed her, she'd nag. Either for me to do it again (in which case, realistically, I'd quite like) or to never even think about doing that again. She'd nag, hold a grudge, and possibly never forgive me for it.

53. I don't need to do the kissing thing to be content with what I do have with her.

54. Holding hands is satisfying enough.

55. Honestly! Our fingers do fit together very perfectly, after all. Makes me remember that I was, technically, made for her this time around. I don't need to kiss her to symbolise that.

56. Ooh, I've thought of a good one: when sleeping in the same bed as her, DO NOT kiss her, otherwise she, as she is human and I am rather dashing, will take the opportunity to take things _that way._

56: Recently revised: When sleeping in the same bed as her, DO NOT kiss her, otherwise I, as I'm in love with her and she is exceedingly beautiful, will want to take the opportunity to take things _that way._

57. No matter how scrumptious she looks when she's figuring out a mystery, there is no need to want to kiss each feature of her face in joy. There are other, much more platonic, ways to express how proud I am of her.

58. Catch her on a hormonal day, and I'd be in for it.

59. Sometimes I think she might be an angel. One day she might just...float away.

60. I don't think I'm very good with romance.

61. She might expect gifts. Chocolate and flowers and things. That's not my style.

62. Although, for her, maybe I could – no. No. No way. Time Lords don't bring their girlfriends flowers.

63. Normal human men don't bring their girlfriends flowers.

64. Anyway, Time Lords don't have _girlfriends, _what am I saying!

65. How ludicrous. Girlfriend indeed. Wife more like – no. No! Oh, for goodness' sake. There is no way – no _way – _that I am going to propose to her. No _way. _Ever. Ever ever ever ever _ever._

66. Unless, maybe, she – no! No. Shut up, Doctor. Don't get distracted. Ahem.

67. I don't do dates, so I definitely don't do marriage. Hmph.

68. Even if it is quite nice at the moment, pretending to everyone on Kalo that she's Mrs Smith.

69. A thousand suns would be put to shame, and I can't risk that, now, can I?

70. The cat's disappeared, now. I wonder where it went. If it fell and died, Rose won't ever forgive me. Not that she'll ever find out, but still.

71. What sort of a repressed Time Lord would I be if I gave into my feelings, eh?

72. A sensible one? Nah. No such thing.

73. The Time Lords will be brought back by the sheer _power _that comes from that one kiss, and they actually might flay me alive... so very not good.

74. No matter how much she provokes one with that smile of hers, errant thoughts should always, always be kept to oneself. Always.

75. I might melt into a puddle of Time Lord stuff at her feet shortly after the kiss. That wouldn't look very manly and might scare her off.

76. She's far too mischievous.

77. I have no right to kiss her, anyway.

78. The flirting doesn't mean anything.

79. Neither does the banter.

80. Or the way we are practically synchronised.

81. Or the way we are practically joined at the hip.

82. Or the way I get so incredibly jealous when any other bloke simply talks to her.

83. No. Those things don't mean anything at all.

84. One of the greatest people of all time once said that it's better with two. What if she goes? Leaves me? It's certainly more difficult with one.

85. I know she wasn't referring to kissing at the time, but the point still stands.

86. In fact...maybe she...no. No, she definitely hadn't meant it like that. We'd only just met.

87. Although...no. No, she wouldn't have seen me like that. Not that early on.

88. Maybe not ever.

89. While she looks perfect while sleeping on my very nice shoulder all snug, DO NOT kiss her, as she might wake up and then she will think "he's taking advantage of me" and storm away.

90. I don't want to break her heart.

91. There is no way I want her to feel anything other than positive things for me.

92. That way, she might stay quite a long time. A kiss could jeopardise that.

93. No matter how sexy she looks, it's still wrong for me to want to benefit from that in any way.

94. _Time _might stop working. Or ticking. Or existing. Or whatever.

95. Seriously. I think it might be possible. You know what she's like...

96. Weeelll, the whole of time _and_ space might simply collapse by the very FORCE and PASSION of our kiss so we would directly be responsible for quite a few casualties all over the universe. Which isn't very good.

97. Although...

98. No. No, I can't justify it. It wouldn't be right.

99. I kissed her in her sleep once and look where that got me.

100. This trip here is awkward and troublesome enough. We do not need the added inconvenience of kissing.

101. Did I mention, her mum is _Jackie Tyler?_

_..._

There. The list was finished. He placed it on the table and stared at it.

And stared at it some more.

And some more.

After precisely twenty-four point three seconds, he proceeded to go through and cross out all of the reasons that would not, if he ever had to deny any truth in it being necessary for him to kiss her, stand up in any sort of court, universe over. Plus, tonight had sort of cancelled out most of them anyway.

He wasn't left with many. Or any, actually.

It looked like things were going to spiral even more out of control for him, if he couldn't even lie to himself anymore.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hello everyone :D So sorry you've had to wait this long for an update. Hope you enjoy this chapter! The next one's almost done, too. Thanks so much to all of you who've stuck with this story even though it really is being very slow :( and thanks for all your wonderfully encouraging reviews thus far xxx**

**Chapter 17**

The following morning, when Rose's eyes fluttered open, she found the Doctor sitting at the bottom of her bed with his legs crossed, his arm outstretched to pass her a mug of tea.

She smiled sleepily. "Thanks." She sat up to take it from him, and immediately felt dizzy. "Oh god. What did I _drink _last night?"

"Pretty much everything," he smirked.

"Riiight..." She sipped her drink. "So! What are we going to do today?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're up to doing something? 'Cos the way you were throwing up last night, I thought you'd have a hell of a hangover this morning."

Rose lifted her mug up in the air triumphantly. "Tea cures all!" she proclaimed.

"Ah, that's good. Well! I don't mind, really. What would you like to do?" he asked her enthusiastically.

"Um. Not sure," she shrugged, but he could see she had an idea. It was twinkling in her eyes.

"Yeah you do," he grinned.

"Well," she began. "I was thinking we could..." She hesitated. _Is he going to think this is really silly?_

"What?" he prompted.

"Can we have a bit of a relaxing day; go to the park...have a uh...well, a picnic?" she asked, looking at her duvet.

"Brilliant idea!" he agreed excitedly. "I'll go make the sandwiches!"

Before Rose had a chance to look back at him, he was up and out of the room. She smiled to herself.

_Well. This is nice. I wonder if he'll...I wonder if he...did he...last night, did he really kiss me back? Before I started throwing up, had he really been kissing me? Or did I imagine it? Or was he just drunk?_

_And the big question...shall I try and kiss him again?_

Rose bit her lip, contemplating her options.

With a determined grin, she stood up and began to get dressed for their day in the park.

...

"This is a nice spot," commented Rose, unlinking her arm from the Doctor's to lay out their blanket under a leafy tree. "It's so warm today; we need a bit of shade."

"Mmhmm," the Doctor agreed, flopping himself down and stretching out, before tucking his hands beneath his head to stare up at her. "Are you going stand there all day?"

"Hmm? Oh, no," she giggled, sitting down next to him. She opened up their picnic basket to grab a bottle of water, and took a swig of it, before offering it to the Doctor. Without hesitation, he gratefully took it from her and drank._ Well, we've shared saliva now, so..._Rose thought to herself, suppressing the urge to giggle again.

She delved back into the picnic basket to seek out the sandwiches the Doctor had made. She grinned when she saw just how many there were. "Expecting guests, are we?" she asked him playfully.

He frowned at her. "No, it's just the two of us today. I thought that's what you wanted? I thought that's why you didn't want to go to that zoo that they were all harping on about last night?"

Rose reached over and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I was just joking, Doctor. 'Cos you've made enough sandwiches to feed ten."

"Oh," he sighed, relieved. _And now I feel very silly, _he thought. "Well, I couldn't decide what filling to have."

"So you thought you'd have all of them," she finished smilingly.

"Exactly! Ooh, and look," he said enthusiastically, as he sat up and reached into the basket. "I bought us strawberries! They have strawberries here! Isn't that great?"

_He's so adorable, _she thought to herself. "That's really great, yeah," she replied.

He opened up the container and held one up for her. "Go on, you get first taste. See if they're as good as Earth's!"

Instead of taking it from him, Rose thought she'd attempt a teeny tiny seduction tactic and simply took a bite from it while he still held it between his fingers. When she caught his eye, she frowned, realising he didn't seem in the least surprised or nonplussed.

He took her frown to mean something different, of course. "What is it? Aren't they very nice?" he asked, but before she could reply that actually, they were quite delicious, he'd popped the rest of her strawberry in his own mouth. He kept his gaze locked with hers as he protested, "Oh, these are lovely and juicy," in between chews. His tongue flicked out to lick his lip. She sort of maybe moaned in appreciation, or agreement, or something like desire, perhaps. He heard. Wanted to hear it again.

They swallowed, very thickly, at the same time. And found, quite spontaneously, that they could not look away from each other. Anticipation hung heavily in the air. The Doctor leant forward just a fraction, his hearts beating rather fast; Rose felt like hers would burst out of her ribcage. And blimey, was that _intent _in his eyes, or was he just...playing?

Suddenly, Rose gave a yelp and jumped up, swinging her hair about and completely breaking the moment.

"What's wrong?" he gasped, looking up at her in surprise.

She laughed shakily. "Oh, nothing really – it was just a bee, that's all. Funny, really – hardly ever see bees on Earth anymore. Maybe they've all migrated here, eh?"

"Hmm, maybe," he said distractedly, not really listening to her. The sun was behind her and it lit up her hair and shone across her lightly tanned arms like...well, like she was golden. He'd kissed her when she was golden, once before. Maybe he could do the same, now...but no. _No, it has to be her. She makes the moves. I just follow them._

"You alright, Doctor?" she asked, and it jolted him out of his contemplation.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" he enthused.

"You don't look it," she pointed out, but she was laughing, because he simply looked a little dazed and confused.

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks!"

She started to sit down next to him and smiled warmly. He found her hand and dragged her into a horizontal position, and they lay side by side staring up at the bits of sky they could see peeking from between the leaves of the tree above them.

"Reckon I could climb up that tree?" she wondered aloud, after a while of comfortable silence.

"Don't you even dare," he told her firmly. "You'll be no fun to live with if you've broken all your bones."

She giggled and turned her head. He let her stare at him without saying anything for a good minute, then turned his head also, impatient. "What?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she smirked. Their faces were inches apart. "Can we play a game?"

"What sort of game?" he groaned, his eyes narrowing.

"A fun sort of game. Hide and seek. No, I know! Kiss chase!" she grinned.

"Rose, we run around all the time, I thought you just wanted a quiet - " He paused, and replayed her words in his mind. "Hold on, did you just say _kiss _chase?"

She beamed at him. "Yes, I did." She got to her feet and held out her hand invitingly. He took it in his again and let her help pull him up.

"Isn't this game for little kids in playgrounds?" he grinned.

"Yeah, well we can play the more adult version if you really want," she shrugged nonchalantly. He gaped at her in shock, but she pretended not to notice. "So, you get to catch me first, alright? Give me a few seconds head start though." She started to jog backwards away from him, watching his wide eyes and open mouth with a satisfied smirk, and then turned around and started to run towards the large fountain in the centre of the park.

The Doctor's brain kicked back into gear eight seconds later, and he chased after her without a moment's more hesitation. By the time she'd got to the fountain, he'd almost caught up with her, and so she jumped up and out of his reach, onto the edge. He was just as adept as jumping, however, and soon he was right behind her and grabbing her around the waist. She giggled and stumbled in surprise, and they both went sailing into the fountain with a splash.

"Doctor!" she laughed loudly, trying to wriggle out from beneath him – where she'd _unfortunately_ ended up after the fall. _Live such a dreary life, me, _Rose thought, sarcastic and happy.

He blinked down at her, and stroked a wet strand of her hair behind her ear. "It appears, Rose Tyler, that we're causing public disorder."

"You gonna move?" she asked, her palm pushing ineffectually at his chest. "Not that I'm not a fan of this position, but you're kind of submerging me in the water right now."

"Least we're 'married,' though," he continued thoughtfully, as if she hadn't said anything. "If we weren't, we might be arrested in this place for public indecency."

"Why would we be arrested for public in-" she started, but she didn't end up finishing that sentence.

The Doctor simply couldn't help but interrupt her with his mouth, this time. After a split second to get over her surprise, Rose kissed him back, and lifted her hands to run through his hair whilst his own hands travelled to her waist, holding her tight against him as he rolled over. Now him flat on his back in the water, Rose gripped his lapels in her hands and kissed him harder.

They were forced to stop, however, when a policeman – who's name was, incidentally, Bobby – arrived. He did indeed arrest them, because apparently, on Kalo, that sort of public showing of affection was not permitted, even for married couples.

The Doctor tugged at his ear sheepishly, Rose blushed bright red, and the pair of them ended up spending an awkward night in opposite cells.

It really did seem to put a downer on the whole experience. Well – that is, for the Doctor. Rose just went to sleep and dreamt of lovely things, not at all disheartened. They'd had a pretty epic snog; she figured it was worth getting arrested for. The Doctor, however, felt _terrible. _He failed to realise that Rose was not, as he thought she would be, angry with him for instigating a night in prison. He resolved to control himself in future, reminding himself firmly that it was Rose that was supposed to be in charge of this, anyway. His reasoning seemed to be impeccable to him – look what happened when _he _went after _her! _They ended up in prison! He really did have extraordinarily bad timing. He decided that Rose would be much better at choosing when and where it was appropriate for a nice snog.

The next morning, as they were let off with a warning and began to make their way home, he took her hand. But he didn't meet her eyes properly for the rest of the day. Consequently, he did not see the bitter disappointment that he'd not kissed her again in them.

...


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hey, hope you like the next chapter :) Thanks for all the lovely reviews last time, and I once more apologise for the lateness of the last update. I shall strive to be better. Special thanks to Rosie Cass for her input ideas-wise :D xxx**

**Chapter 18**

Another week passed by and Rose was getting steadily more annoyed and frustrated.

He was still distancing himself from her a bit. It was doing her head in. Oh, he was fine and cheery and friendly and normal most of the time; he still held her hand tightly in his and still hugged her close just for the sake of it; he still flirted a little, made silly jokes, smiled when he made her laugh. But he hadn't once suggested that what had happened in the park that day should happen again. He hadn't once tried to initiate a kiss, or anything...more. He hadn't once told her what he wanted, or rather, _whether _he wanted anything to develop between them.

So, Rose decided she'd have to try and impress him. Try and entice him in. He was obviously too stupid or too much of a coward to seduce _her. _Either that or he didn't want anything like that. But then, she had to find out somehow, right? And if she humiliated herself in the process, then so be it. Because she had to try.

The Doctor had gone out to pick up some pizza from the local take-away; they weren't delivering tonight, apparently they were really busy. So she knew he'd be a while.

Rose, rather quickly, made the flat look romantic, with the items she'd bought earlier on in the day whilst the Doctor had been distractedly browsing the local bookstore.

A few candles here, a few there. A couple of wine glasses on the coffee table, a bottle of champagne standing in a bucket of ice. A Glenn Miller CD in the stereo. She was going all out. She'd even bought a new dress. Black. Silk. Practically backless. It fitted her perfectly, showing off each womanly curve and every smooth surface of her skin.

She felt a bit silly, a bit nervous, but...she just couldn't take the not-knowing anymore. It was time for girl-next-door Rose Tyler to show the Doctor that she could be sexy.

_Sexy? Oh god, _she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. Then she caught sight of her reflection in the window. _Oh. Actually...maybe I am..._ She grinned, a newfound confidence warming her up. _I'm just gonna go for it. I'll be cool, calm, collected. If he turns me down, then so what? I'm Rose Tyler. I'll get over it._

_Maybe. Some day. Perhaps._

She jumped when she heard a knock at the door; the Doctor hadn't taken the key. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed down her dress, walked over to the door, and opened it with a bright smile.

The Doctor grinned at her from the open doorway, holding the pizza box tightly in his hands.

_Do not drop the pizza, _he told himself. _Keep smiling. Don't react. Just. Keep. Smiling. _"Hello. Someone order a pizza?" _Rassilon, she looks gorgeous..._

"I do believe I did," she beamed back. _Don't look disappointed he's not noticed, _she thought firmly. _Don't think about him not thinking it's a sexy dress._

"Are you going to let me in, then?" he inquired playfully, raising his eyebrows when she just stood there.

"What, did I order a handsome Time Lord, too? I don't remember that bit..."

"Tough, I come free," he replied, throwing her a wink.

Rose bit back a smirk and took the pizza box from him. "Well, who am I to argue about a free gift? Welcome to my humble abode!"

"_Our _humble abode," he corrected softly, stepping into the flat.

"Shh, we're role playing," Rose whispered mock-seriously, turning to put the pizza on the coffee table. She knelt on the floor to open it up.

He swallowed at the sight of her practically bare back. _Blimey. Is she actually trying to kill me?_

Then he noticed the candles. The champagne. The..._wait, that's Glenn Millar!_ _Doesn't she realise this is our song? Why hasn't she mentioned it? What's all this...romance-y stuff? Is she just messing around? Why aren't we dancing?_

"Rose..." he began carefully. She looked back at him over her shoulder. "What's all this in aid of?" he asked. _I hope she's planning on seducing me..._

She half-shrugged. "Dunno. Thought it'd be...nice. Different."

"Oh. Okay," he accepted quietly. He sat down on the sofa heavily and watched her as she stood, slice of pizza in each hand, one held out for him. He took it from her and ate thoughtfully for a moment. She sat down next to him and her dress swished around her, showing off her legs as she pulled them up and beneath her slightly. He paused his chewing and simply _stared._

She continued eating her slice of pizza, oblivious to his torment when a bit of tomato sauce became perpetually stuck to her bottom lip. He wanted to –

Well. Never mind what he wanted to do.

"So!" he said loudly, trying to get his mind focused on a half-decent trail of thought. "Good pizza, eh?" He winced at the lame excuse for a conversation.

"Yep," she smiled. "Brilliant stuff."

Cue awkward silence with more staring. _Bloody hell, _she thought, _is this gonna get any more tense?_

He shifted fractionally closer to her, and his thigh brushed against the silk of her dress.

_Make that a yes, _she realised.

She wanted to throw down the pizza and throw _herself _onto –

Well. Never mind where she wanted to throw herself.

She cleared her throat. "Anyway, so Selena rang today..."

"Selena?" he repeated, wrinkling his nose up. He took another slice of pizza. "That the scary woman who's with someone new every week?"

"That's the one," Rose answered.

"What did she want?"

"Asked if you were available," she replied.

He grunted. "Weeelll, we all know I'm not available."

Rose deflated. _Oh? Do we? Well, nice of you to tell me! Do you mind not being so damn flirty with me all the time then? Hmmm? Hmmmmm? If you're not available, just bloody well stop acting like you want to be!_

"Right," she said. "Exactly. That's what I told her. She sounded disappointed."

"She'll get over it," he retorted bluntly, leaning forward to pluck the champagne bottle from its bucket. "Ooh, this is good stuff! Excellent taste, Rose Tyler!"

"Champagne connoisseur now, are you?" she grumbled under her breath, but he didn't seem to hear, and simply poured some into their glasses, handing hers to her with a clink.

"Cheers!" he smiled.

She managed to smile back. "Cheers." The song she'd danced to with Jack came on and she smiled nostalgically at the memory. "Do you want to dance?" she found herself asking, before she even realised what she was saying.

He tried not to let the smile slide off his face too obviously. _Now? Now she wants to dance? Now it's her and Jack's song? Well isn't that just peachy. _"Nah," he dismissed quickly, trying to keep his tone light. "The pizza'll get cold."

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat. "Oh yeah," she mumbled, grabbing another piece.

He could tell she was upset, and touched her knee gently. "You alright?"

She shivered at his touch, but covered it up with, "Yeah. Just a bit chilly, that's all."

"Well, you are wearing next to nothing where your back is concerned," he reasoned, remembering the image but wanting her to turn around so he could see it again.

"Mmm," she agreed. She played with hem of her dress nervously. "Do you like it?"

His mouth fell open. "Pardon?"

"The dress? Do you like it? I got from the shop today. Maureen let me have it for half price. Nice, eh?"

"It's...very nice, yes," he agreed, nodding. He took a gulp of his drink. His hand at his side brushed hers as he leant back, and their fingers found their way to mesh together. They both repressed smiles when they realised their instinctive actions.

Rose sipped at her champagne slowly, wondering what she could say to break the silence. Or get him to make a move. Either/or.

"Doctor..." she began slowly.

"Yeah?"

She bit her lip worriedly, and tilted her head to look him in the eye. "I think that maybe..."

"Yeah?"

"I think it's...I...I...can I..."

"Yeah?" he murmured, sounding breathless with anticipation at what she would say.

Rose sighed at her own inability to construe her request together. Instead of words, she thought perhaps she should just...act.

Keeping her eyes locked with his, she started to lean forward. The music faded out; the end of the CD. All was silent. They stared at each other's lips. Rose leant even closer.

And then the phone rang.

The Doctor jumped in surprise at the ringing sound and spilled some of his drink over his trouser leg. "What's that?" he asked in alarm.

"Our phone, idiot," Rose giggled, reaching around him to pick up the phone from the table next to the sofa. She was more amused than annoyed by the interruption; it happened so frequently - getting distracted, that is - that she had to laugh, or else she might scream.

"We have a phone?" he retorted, baffled by the notion.

"We have a phone on the TARDIS, too, it's not that amazing. Anyway, how did you think Selena spoke to me? Telepathy?" she murmured in amusement, before speaking into the receiver, "Hello?"

The Doctor watched her closely, practically wrapped around him as she was. If he leant forward just a bit and put his arms around her waist, he could drag her to him and let her snuggle against his chest as she spoke. Then he'd be able to feel the vibrations of her voice and breathy laughter against him and it would be...weeeelll. Very lovely.

He didn't do this, of course. He kept the three centimetres between them filled with space and not him, and listened to her half of the conversation with interest, trying to work out who it was.

"Yeah, okay! See ya tomorrow," she concluded, before putting the phone back in place and shifting back into her own place in the corner of the sofa. "That was Jill! She wants to meet for coffee during my lunch break tomorrow."

"That's nice," the Doctor replied perfunctorily. "Rose, I - " He cut himself off abruptly as Rose started to dab at his thigh with a tissue. _Oh bloody hell, why's she touching me there? That is not going to help matters. This is nerve-wracking enough as it is, without her making things harder. So to speak. _"Rose, you don't have to do that," he murmured, moving her hand away.

"But you spilt your champagne, I - "

" – it's alright, it's fine," he interrupted gently.

She withdrew her hand and looked at him steadily for a moment. "Doctor. Can I...can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can. You can ask me anything," he smiled.

"What happened in the park," she began nervously, and she saw him squirm uneasily at her phrasing. "Will it...is it...will it ever happen again?"

_And what a question that is, _he thought absently. He didn't answer her; couldn't. Couldn't lie, couldn't tell the truth. Because he didn't know which was which anymore.

Rose sighed at his silence, and slid down the sofa to sit on the floor, chin propped up on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs and held them there. The Doctor also moved to the floor, unsure as to why she was creating distance between them and decidedly not liking it. Back against the sofa, he stared straight ahead and waited for her to say something else so that he wouldn't have to.

Then she did say something, and he almost bloody_ fainted._

"Don't you want me?" Rose murmured softly, breaking the silence.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Don't you want me?" Rose murmured softly.

His head abruptly whipped around to face her and he swallowed thickly. Staring at her in shock, he whispered, "What?"

She bit her lip and met his stare evenly. "Don't you want me?" she repeated, lifting her left shoulder in a half-shrug.

"Want you?" he echoed, gulping. "What do you mean?" _Is this it? Is it finally happening? Does she mean...?_

Rose sighed. "You know exactly what I mean. We've been stranded here for a couple of weeks now. Living in such a small flat, together. Sometimes I feel like it's..." she trailed off, and hugged her knees to her chest again, dropping her head to hide her embarrassment. "I've got this all wrong, haven't I?" she muttered. _Oh god. I won't be able to bear it if he laughs at me, _she thought anxiously.

The Doctor continued to stare at her in bewilderment, disbelieving this conversation was finally arising, but managed to stutter out, "S -sometimes you feel like it's...what?" _Please, please oh please say what I want you to say._

She lifted her head again and stared pointedly at the television, refusing to look him in the eye. "I thought, maybe, that this – us, being stuck here for a bit – I thought it might be, you know. The catalyst."

"The catalyst?" he repeated, his pulse racing.

"Mmm. 'Cos we've been quite...close, and I thought maybe that had changed things. Tonight, I thought..."

His mouth was dry as he croaked out, "You thought...?"

When she didn't respond, he reached out and placed his hand at her cheek, gently urging her to face him. "You thought?" he prompted again._ I am seriously going to have a hearts attack if she doesn't answer me soon..._

Her gaze flickered down to his mouth and back to his eyes quickly; but not quick enough for him not to notice. His eyes widened in hope; he kept his hand at her cheek.

"It doesn't matter," she said, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat, and asserted more firmly, "It doesn't matter, just forget I said anything."

"Rose," he replied softly. "I don't think..."

"I know," she assured him, nodding; his palm was cool against her skin and when she moved her head it slid slightly into her hair, covering her ear. He left it there, fingertips caressing slightly, and she suppressed a shiver. "It would be...weird."

The Doctor's brow furrowed in confusion. "What would be weird?" he asked. _It wouldn't be weird! What are you thinking, this is us. Why would it be weird? I don't think it would be weird. Please don't think it would be weird..._

Rose frowned back at him. "Well. You know. The thing I was talking about."

"You didn't tell me what it was you _were _talking about," he retorted.

"No, but you know," she insisted. "You know what I meant."

He nodded but very slightly, removing his hand from her face and dropping it to her knee, poking her hand that was resting there and enticing her to entwine her fingers with his. Then, he shifted, moving so that he was kneeling in front of her.

Her mouth opened to question his movements, but he silenced her with a Look. Said Look – all dark eyes, impossibly deep - also increased her heart rate tenfold, and she bit the inside of her cheek in surprise.

_What's he doing? _she thought.

The Doctor then stood, pulling her up with him whilst reaching into his pocket and locating his sonic screwdriver. Wrapping one arm around her waist to draw her closer, he extended his other out to point the sonic at the stereo; a soft melody began to play in the room once more. He chucked the sonic onto the sofa and looped his other arm around Rose too, his hand splaying across her back to push them together, chest to chest.

_Oh. That's what he's doing._

Taking his lead, Rose brought her arms underneath his to grasp the back of his shoulders, leaning closer and beginning to smile into his neck as he slowly swayed them side to side. She was so lost in the feel of being wrapped up in his arms that she gave a startled squeak when he spoke, earning her an amused look that she could not see.

"It's been a strange few weeks, I suppose," he announced, his lips brushing against her hair as he spoke. He grinned when she jumped at the sound of his voice, and only just resisted the urge to press his lips to her temple. He cleared his throat. "You're probably...confused," he said next, choosing his words carefully.

Slowly, the smile slid off Rose's face. "What do you mean?" she mumbled, disheartened again.

"Weeelll," he drawled, turning them full circle, his knee probing between her legs as he guided her steps in time with the music. "We've not been stuck in the same place for quite this long before, not without the chance to escape in the TARDIS." _And it has been surprisingly...wonderful..._

"Mmm," she agreed absently, wondering where he was going with this conversation.

"But," he continued, increasing their pace simultaneously with the music. "You are gravely mistaken if you think that being trapped here with you has changed me, per se."

Rose pushed her forehead harder into his shoulder and blinked back tears. "Right," she breathed out shakily, praying he didn't notice.

"Because maybe you think that this has been the catalyst for something uh, _different,_ and I suppose in a way it is, but it isn't, not really," he murmured, slowing them down again. His hand trailed down her bare back and rested just above her bum.

Her breath hitched in spite of his words; his hand belied his statement. "Right," she said again, feeling dizzy and wishing he'd stop with the mixed signals.

"You, in this dress," he whispered now, his breath ghosting over the shell of her ear. His other arm tightened his hold of her and he tried to focus on his words, not on what she felt like pressed against him. "It doesn't tempt me any more than usual. Because I am tempted, Rose. All the _time._"

Her head came up in surprise and her hair brushed against his chin. "What?"

"So if you think you need all this," he continued gesturing around them at the candles and then at her dress again, his hand sliding an inch lower and now definitively where it shouldn't (should) be. "To entice me in, then you're wrong. It's lovely, and sexy...but then, you always are. To me."

He nuzzled her ear, then, and Rose swallowed, clutching onto him more forcefully in an effort to stand up straight; her legs were rapidly becoming of no use to her, and it was lucky that the Doctor could guide her dance steps for her with his steady hold. "Am I," she breathed against his neck, not quite a question. _Oh god. Oh god. Oh god._

"Yeah," he shivered. "You enticed me in way back," he admitted, his voice dropping low. _Oh so long ago..._

Her smile started to return, decidedly more wicked, this time, and she giggled against his jaw as she moved her head to look at him. "Before we came to Kalo?"

"Before I became a new man," he corrected, staring down at her adoringly. His arm left its place around her waist so that he could brush her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "It's not the circumstances, Rose, not really," he told her gently, hoping she understood. He wasn't being like this with her because he was stuck here and bored and had nothing better to do. It meant something, had always meant something, it was only now that he'd had the chance to see how _she _felt that he had the chance to confess all this, and he wanted her to believe that. "It's you. It's always you," he finished, a lump in his throat.

Rose smiled beautifully and stood on her tip-toes to press a soft, warm kiss to his lips. "Good," she murmured as she pulled back.

His lips quirked upwards. "Rose," he started, but she interrupted him before he could finish.

"That night. That first night," she whispered, her courage building. "You were dreaming. And the way you were with me after, I started to think that it was, you know, about me," she confessed, blushing. "But whenever I mention anything about that sort of thing, you go all oblivious. Act as though you don't have a clue, like you did earlier. And then the next second you're flirting again. And then the next, you're back to being oblivious." She paused, steadying herself for his answer. "So, tell me, Doctor. What exactly have I enticed you in to do?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose at her question, and he lifted his hand to tug nervously at his ear, but she caught it in hers, and guided it to her hip. Watching her carefully, he realised he owed her an answer. A proper answer.

"Lots of things," he murmured. He closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath, before releasing it as he opened them again. "Of course I was dreaming about you. I _constantly _dream about you. You've enticed me into feelings and thoughts I haven't had in, ooh, feels like ever, might _be _ever, actually, because I don't remember ever wanting - " he cut himself off, shook his head at himself. "No, _needing _someone so much."

After this confession, all Rose could hear was her pulse beating irrevocably hard in her veins, and the laughter bubbling up within her. Stumbling a little on her unsteady feet, she stepped backwards and fell onto the sofa, clutching her stomach and giggling happily to herself.

_Oh. My. God..._was all she could think.

The Doctor, meanwhile, remained standing, dumbfounded. "Uh, Rose." He coughed pointedly. "Rose?" he tried again. "Sorry, look, can I just ask...why are you laughing? It's awfully insulting, you know, after I just declared my undying...need for you."

Rose got her hysterics under control and schooled her expression into one of abject apology. "I'm sorry, Doctor, it's not...I don't...I'm not laughing _at_ you."

"Feels like it," he retorted sarcastically. He shifted awkwardly on his feet, and was relieved at Rose's invitation when she patted the space next to her, immediately flopping down and flinging his arm around her shoulder.

Smiling into his chest, she curled into him. "I'm sorry," she apologised sweetly. "I just, I can't believe it. All this time, I've been worrying, thinking I'm the only one feeling so...so..." she trailed off as he looked at her questioningly.

"So...?" he prompted, smirking.

Rose grinned in that mischievous way of hers, and in an instant, she had swung herself onto his lap. He gasped in surprise, but his hands almost instantly flew to her hips to keep her there. She ran her hands through his hair and was delighted as his eyes fluttered shut.

"You know," she pondered quietly. "I thought once that you were unconsciously determined to kill me with unresolved sexual tension."

His eyes opened swiftly and he gaped at her. "Yeah? Now why would I do that?" he asked, once he'd recovered his surprise. "I'd be killing myself in the process."

She shifted closer, and his grip on her hips tightened. "Well, you're an idiot, remember? You do silly things that you don't really want to do." Her voice grew quieter still, contemplative. "But this?" she inquired gently. "You do want to do this, yeah? Or have I misread things again?"

"Yeah, Rose?" he replied sarcastically, "I can't see you misreading _that_, somehow." He pointedly glanced down between them, at the precarious position where she was sitting. Namely, on top of a very specific part of his anatomy that was doing its very best to let her know _exactly_ what it wanted.

Rose shrugged, suppressing a satisfied grin. "Well, who knows with you, eh? I've never done this sort of thing with a Time Lord before. I might need to learn to, uh, read things differently. You are Mr Mixed Signals, after all."

"I've never done 'this sort of thing' with a human before," he retorted. "And not very often with anyone else, so I might need to learn a lot of things full stop."

She smiled, resting her hands over his chest, feeling the frantic beat of his hearts beneath her palms. "You're nervous," she whispered, her tone a little like awe.

"Well, obviously," he whispered back. "This is bloody terrifying."

Rose giggled. "I'm not that scary, am I?"

"Yes," he replied, honestly. "Especially as earlier you said it would be weird if we...you know."

Rose bit her lip. "I was lying. It won't be weird."

"I know," he replied. "And I want things to be..."

"What?"

He swallowed heavily, _very _embarrassed. "Perfect," he mumbled under his breath. He coughed meaningfully, to dispel his brief humiliation, and was relieved when she didn't laugh at him again.

"Oh," she breathed wistfully, touched. "You're so..."

"What?" he urged.

She watched her hands smooth over his chest as she spoke, not wanting to meet his eye. "I kind of thought, if we ever...you know...that it would be a one-time thing, in a rush, caught up in the moment of being reunited after I almost got killed or something. Or if we were stuck in a prison cell preparing to face our execution and just had one last night together. Or...something."

"What, against a random wall, _or something_?" he teased, putting his hands over hers and squeezing.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the way she flushed scarlet at his words. "Maybe."

"Weeelll, we could do that too," he offered, with a wide grin.

She looked at him, ignoring her blushing cheeks. "I never realised you'd be so...conscious of it. Like, not running away. It's like, you're actually planning it or whatever, it's not..." she trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Spontaneous?" he supplied, frowning a little. _Is that what she would have preferred? More spontaneity?_ he thought. _Bugger. I'm rubbish at this._

"Well yeah, but no, that's not... I meant, like..." She took a deep breath. "It's as if we've accepted it's going to happen, so we can't regret it and pretend it was just because of the heat of the moment, or blame it on the atmosphere or the adrenalin or whatever," she finished.

"Is that how you would've preferred it to be?" he asked her, concerned, _anxious_.

"No!" she said hurriedly. "No, of course not; I'm glad it's this way. I want it to be perfect, too. I'm just surprised that you're letting us do this."

He smiled warmly, and cradled her face in his hands. "I'm tired of pretending, Rose. I don't think I can stand not giving in anymore." He trailed his gaze over her. "You're so beautiful," he murmured. "And I can't resist you any longer." He met her eye again. "And I'm not going to abandon you," he said softly. "Not ever."

Rose beamed at him, finally feeling reassured that he would carry this through to the end. "Good."

-x-

**A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews so far. I'm incredibly proud of the amount of reviews received for this, and can't quite believe my luck, to be honest. You are all so wonderful for sticking with this despite the long waits between updates. Quick question...where should the next chapter take them? How much of their next actions do you want to, _ahem_, know the details of? I'm just asking so that I don't disappoint...(and also, regarding the T rating, not sure what sort of, um, _description_ should be the limit...?) feedback on this would be greatly appreciated :D much love, laura xxx**


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